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FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,   VOL.   XIII,    PL. 


PORTRAIT  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SiKKIM. 


Plate  I 

The  reigning  queen  (Maharanl)  of  Sikkim,  after  an  oil-portrait  by  Damodar 
Dutt,  a  Bengali  artist,  in  the  collection  of  the  Field  Museum  (Cat.  No.  117815, 
acquired  by  the  writer  at  Darjeeling  in  1908).  The  queen  is  a  full-blooded  Tibetan 
princess  born  at  Lhasa  in  1864  and  was  married  to  the  present  king  of  Sikkim  as  his 
second  wife  in  1882.  Both  were  taken  prisoners  by  the  British  in  1893  and  held  in 
captivity  at  Darjeeling.  During  that  time  she  used  to  sit  to  the  Bengali  painter  for 
the  portrait  in  question  which  was  completed  in  1908.  The  writer  had  an  audience 
with  her  in  her  palace  at  Gangtak,  the  capital  of  Sikkim,  at  which  time  she  was 
dressed  in  the  same  state-attire  and  with  the  same  jewelry  as  in  this  painting.  Her 
crown,  the  peculiar  headdress  adopted  by  the  queens  of  Stkkim,  is  composed  of  broad 
bandeaux  made  up  of  pearls,  interspersed  with  turquoises  and  corals  alternating. 
Her  gold  earrings  are  inlaid  with  a  mosaic  of  turquoises  in  concentric  rings.  The 
necklace  consists  of  coral  beads  and  large  yellow  amber  balls,  and  has  a  charmbox 
igau)  attached  to  it,  set  with  rubies,  lapis  lazuli  and  turquois.  She  wears  a  bracelet 
of  corals  and  two  gold  rings  set  with  turquois  and  coral. 

Mr.  J.  Claude  White,  the  British  Political  Officer  of  Sikkim  (in  his  book  "Sikhim 
and  Bhutan,"  p.  22,  London,  1909)  characterizes  her  as  a  striking  personality,  ex- 
tremely bright,  intelligent,  and  well  educated;  her  disposition,  he  says,  is  a  masterful 
one,  and  her  bearing  always  dignified;  she  is  always  interesting,  either  to  look  at  or  to 
listen  to,  and  had  she  been  bom  within  the  sphere  of  European  politics  she  would 
most  certainly  have  made  her  mark,  for  there  is  no  doubt  she  is  a  bom  intriguer  and 
diplomat. 

Another  oil-portrait  in  the  Field  Museum  from  the  hands  of  the  same  artist 
represents  the  Mongol  Lama  Shes-rab  rgya-mts'o  ("The  Ocean  of  Wisdom")  bom 
in  1 82 1  at  Kuka-khota  ("Blue  City,"  in  Shansi  Province,  China),  teacher  to  the 
Pan-ch'en  Lama,  then  interpreter  in  the  Anglo-Indian  Civil  Service;  he  was  dis- 
tinguished for  his  Tibetan  scholarship,  particularly  in  the  department  of  astronomy 
and  astrology;  he  did  useful  work  in  assisting  English  translations  of  Tibetan  books, 
and  died  at  Darjeeling  in  1902,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  Damodar  Dutt  received 
for  this  portrait  a  medal  from  the  Bombay  Art  Exhibition. 
Dimensions  of  above  portrait:    1.74  x1.06  m. 


iUi 


Publications 


OF 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL 
HISTORY 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL  SERIES 
Volume  XIII 


CHICAGO 
1913-14 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

1.  Laufer,  Berthold,  Notes  on  Turquois  in  the  East    .     .         i 

2.  Laufer,  Berthold,  Chinese  Clay  Figures,  Part  I,  Prole- 

gomena on  the  History  of  Defensive  Armor        ...        73 


\)t    I  HE. 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

24  StP1913 


Field  Museum  of  Natural  History. 
Publication   169. 
Anthropological  Series.  Vol.  XIII,  No.  1 


NOTES  ON  TURQUOIS  IN  THE  EAST 


BY 


Berthold  Laufer. 

Associate  Curator  of  Asiatic  Ethnology 


Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 
July,  1913.^ 


1^0  6  si:i.os 

FA  FA 


V.  l^ 


,^0 


PREFACE 

In  April,  191 1,  Dr.  Joseph  E.  Pogue,  mineralogist  in  the  U.  S. 
National  Museum  of  Washington,  requested  my  co-operation  in  bringing 
out  an  extensive  monograph  which  he  contemplated  on  the  turquois 
from  the  mineralogical,  historical,  and  ethnological  points  of  view. 
It  was  originally  intended  that  the  following  notes  should  be  embodied 
in  the  form  of  an  appendix  in  Dr.  Pogue 's  proposed  work  which  I 
understand  is  now  complete  in  manuscript.  As  adverse  circumstances 
beyond  the  control  of  the  author  have  unfortunately  delayed  for  the 
last  two  years  the  publication  of  his  study,  and  as  a  recent  official  jour- 
ney to  Alaska  will  prevent  for  some  time  longer  active  operations  on 
his  part,  my  contribution  to  his  work  is  herewith  issued  in  a  separate 
form.  It  should  be  understood  that  only  the  exhaustive  monograph 
of  Dr.  Pogue,  which  it  is  sincerely  hoped  will  come  out  in  the  near 
future,  will  lend  these  notes  their  proper  background  and  perspective. 
As  at  one  time  a  plea  was  made  by  me  for  the  co-operation  of  naturalists 
and  orientalists  {Science,  1907,  p.  894),  it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  we 
have  advanced  a  step  farther  in  this  direction,  and  it  will  be  seen  on  the 
following  pages  that  oriental  research  can  also  bring  to  light  new  and 
.r  not  unimportant  facts  as  yet  unknown  to  our  natural  science.  The 
_  occurrence  of  the  turquois  in  Tibet  and  China,  and  to  a  higher  degree, 
-  its  history  and  cultural  position  in  those  countries,  present  a  chapter 
of  knowledge  with  which  our  mineralogists  have  been  hitherto  unac- 
quainted. But  only  concerted  action  and  sympathetic  co-operation 
Vi  can  lead  us  to  positive  and  enduring  results.  The  orientalist  needs  the 
naturalist  as  much  as  the  latter,  when  his  inclinations  carry  him  to 
Asia,  may  profit  from  the  stimulus  of  the  former,  in  that  he  can  suggest 
and  encourage  problems,  the  solution  of  which  will  turn  out  to  be  of 
vital  significance  to  archaeology.  Our  mineralogical  knowledge  of 
Eastern  and  Central  Asia  is  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  condition,  and  it 
is  desirable  that  the  horizon  of  our  mineralogists  shoiild  no  longer  be 
bordered  by  the  Panama  and  Suez  canals.  There  is  a  great  and  promis- 
\^  ing  field  open  between  the  two,  and  a  plan  which  a  mineralogist  should 
c  follow  in  aiding  the  cause  of  archaeology  in  Asia  is  briefly  indicated  on 

t*  p.  54. 

For  various  information  I  am  under  obligation  to  Dr.  Friedrich 


/  1  '  ' 
ail  1  Preface 

Hirth,  professor  of  Chinese  at  Columbia  University,  of  New  York;  to  my 
friend  Paul  Pelliot,  professor  at  the  College  de  France  in  Paris ;  to  Prof. 
Georg  Jacob  at  the  University  of  Kiel;  and  to  Dr.  Julius  Ruska  at  the 
University  of  Heidelberg.  The  contributions  courteously  made  by 
these  gentlemen  are  clearly  acknowledged  as  such  in  each  particular 
instance.  Berthold  Laufer. 


Oi  iiWUfi 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.  TuRQUOis  IN  India i 

II.  TuRQUois  IN  Tibet 5 

III.  TuRQUois  IN  China 20 

Additional  Notes 66 


111 


in  V.'  in; 


NOTES  ON  TURQUOIS  IN  THE  EAST 

By  BERTHOLD  LAUFER 

I.  TuRQUois  IN  India 

The  peoples  of  ancient  India  do  not  seem  to  have  been  acquainted 
with  the  tnrquois,^  nor  do  they  possess  an  indigenous  word  for  it.  The 
Sanskrit  term  peroja  (also  perojd,  piroja)  or  perojana  is  a  comparatively 
recent  loan  word  of  mediaeval  times  derived  from  New- Persian  ferozah 
(older  form  firuzag),  from  which  also  the  Russian  word  hiruza  and 
Armenian  piroza  come;'^  and  the  Sanskrit  designation  haritdqma  is  a 
compound  with  the  meaning  "greenish  stone."  The  older  Sanskrit 
treatises  on  precious  stones  do  not  make  mention  of  it.  Neither 
Buddhabhatta,  a  Buddhist  monk  who  wrote  the  Ratnapankshd,  that 
is,  the  "Appreciation  of  Gems,"  ^  presumably  before  the  sixth  century 

^  Our  name  turquois  (from  French  turquoise,  Old  French  also  tourques)  means 
Turkish  stone  (there  is  also  the  word  Turkey-stone,  formerly  turky-stone),  not  be- 
cause the  stone  is  found  in  Turkey,  but  because  the  most  reputed  kind,  coming  from 
Persia,  first  reached  Europe  by  way  of  Turkey;  the  Venetians  seem  to  be  the  first  to 
have  imported  it  (Italian  turchese),  and  also  to  have  made  of  it  imitations  in  glass. 
The  Latinized  names  were  torcois,  turcosa,  turchina,  or  turchesia,  and  A.  Boetius  de 
Boot,  court  physician  to  Emperor  Rudolf  II  (Gemmarum  et  lapidum  historia,  ed. 
A.  Toll,  p.  265,  Lugduni  Batavorum,  1636;  the  first  edition  of  this  interesting  work 
appeared  at  Hanover  in  1609)  states:  "Omnibus nationibus eo nomine notissima,  quod 
a  Turcis  ad  nos  feratur."  Others  hold  that  the  allusion  to  Turkey  in  the  stone  im- 
plies no  distinct  geographical  notion  but  vaguely  means  "coming  from  the  Orient" 
(O.  ScHRADER,  Reallexikon  der  indogermanischen  Altertumskunde,  p.  153,  Strass- 
burg,  1901);  indeed,  Turkey  was  for  a  long  time  a  term  of  uncertain  value,  almost 
having  the  meaning  of  "strange,"  and  was  even  connected  in  Europe  with  two  Ameri- 
can products, —  our  North  American  bird,  and  maize  (sometimes  known  as  Turkish 
wheat).  At  any  rate,  the  Turks  were  acquainted  with  the  turquois,  in  particular 
with  that  of  Persia,  calling  it  by  the  Persian  name  firuze.  According  to  a  kind 
communication  of  Prof.  Georg  Jacob,  the  turquois  is  described  in  a  Turkish  work  on 
mineralogy  written  in  1511-12  a.  d.  by  Jahja  Ibn  Muhammad  al-Gaffarl  (manuscript 
in  Leipzig,  Catalogue  of  Fleischer,  p.  508,  No.  265).  Five  principal  kinds  are  dis- 
tinguished: Nishapuri,  Gaznewi,  Ilaqi,  Kermani,  and  Kharezmi;  the  first,  the  well- 
known  turquois  from  NishapQr  in  Persia,  is  regarded  as  the  most  valuable,  being 
hard,  and  fine,  and  permanent  in  color;  the  various  sorts  are  described  and  followed 
by  reports  of  celebrated  turquoises  in  the  history  of  Islam. —  Shakespeare  {The 
Merchant  of  Venice,  Act  III,  Scene  I,  in  the  folio  edition)  has  the  spelling  Turkies;  the 
po3t  Tennyson  adheres  to  the  old  form  turkis  (Middle  English  turkeis,  on  a  par  with 
German  turkis,  Middle  High  German  turkoys,  tiirkls;  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
turkes).  The  usual  English  spelling,  in  accordance  with  French,  is  turquoise  (former- 
ly it  was  written  also  turcois  and  turkois);  in  scientific  writings  in  this  country  the 
spelling  turquois  is  now  generally  adopted. 

^  The  Persian  turquois  is  not  discussed  here,  as  it  will  be  treated  by  Dr.  Pogue  in 
his  monograph.  The  course  of  our  investigation,  however,  necessitates  touching 
also  upon  this  subject,  and  some  brief  notes  bearing  on  it  will  be  found  on  p.  38. 

'Edited  and  translated  by  Louis  Finot,  Les  lapidaires  indiens  (Paris,  1896). 


2       Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIIL 

A.  D.,  nor  Vardhamihira  (505-587  a.  d.)  in  his  work  Brihatsamhitd 
allude  to  the  turquois.  Agasti,  in  his  versified  treatise  on  gems,  the 
Agastimata,  and  a  very  late  work,  the  Ratnasamgraha,  each  devote  a 
stanza  to  the  turquois.^  The  date  of  the  former  work  is  not  satis- 
factorily established.  Inward  evidence  leads  one  to  think  that  it  is 
posterior  to  the  sixth  century  a.  d.,  and  that  a  work  under  this  name 
possibly  existed  in  the  thirteenth  century,  while  in  its  present  shape 
it  is,  in  all  likelihood,  of  much  later  date.  Of  greater  importance  is  the 
little  mineralogical  treatise  Rdjamghantu  written  by  Narahari,  a 
physician  from  Kashmir,  not  earlier  than  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  According  to  Narahari,  the  two  words  as  given  above  are 
used  to  distinguish  two  varieties  of  the  stone,  as  the  hue  is  either  ash- 
colored  or  greenish.  He  remarks  that  it  is  astringent  and  sweet  to 
the  taste,  and  an  excellent  means  to  provoke  appetite;  every  poison, 
whether  vegetable  or  mineral,  or  a  mixture  of  both,  is  rapidly  neutral- 
ized by  turquois;  it  also  relieves  the  pain  caused  by  demoniacal  and 
other  obnoxious  influences.^  As,  in  all  likelihood,  the  acquaintance 
1  L.  PiNOT,  /.  c,  pp.  138,  197. 

^  Compare  R.  Garbe,  Die  indischen  Mineralien,  p.  91  (Leipzig,  1882).  In  the 
introduction  the  date  of  Narahari's  work  is  calculated  at  between  1235- 1250;  Prof. 
Garbe  has  been  good  enough  to  inform  me  that  he  has  now  arrived  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  work  cannot  be  earlier  than  the  fifteenth  century.  The  turquois,  accord- 
ingly, appears  on  Indian  soil  very  late  during  the  middle  ages,  in  the  Mohammedan 
period.  The  evidence  gathered  from  mineralogical  literature  is  corroborated  by  the 
records  of  Indian  medicine.  The  famous  Bower  Manuscript  assigned  to  the  year  450 
A.  D.,  the  brilliant  edition  and  translation  of  which  has  just  been  completed  by  Dr.* 
A.  F.  R.  HoERNLE  (Calcutta,  1893-1912),  does  not  make  any  mention  of  turquois, 
nor  do  the  ancient  physicians  of  India.  (For  this  reason,  J.  Jolly,  Indische  Medicin, 
does  not  note  the  stone.) —  It  is  asserted  on  the  authority  of  the  Periplus  Maris 
Erythrm  (Ch.  39),  a  Greek  work  of  an  unknown  author  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
first  century  (probably  written  between  80-89  A.  D.,  roughly  about  85;  see  the  recent 
discussion  of  the  date  by  J.  F.  Fleet,  Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  191 2,  pp.  784-7) 
that  turquois  was  exported  from  the  Indian  port  Barbaricon.  Mr.  W.  H.  Schoff, 
in  his  new  translation  of  the  work  (The  Periplus  of  the  Erythraean  Sea,  pp.  38,  170, 
London,  1912),  feels  very  positive  on  this  point,  and  explains  that  "the  text  has 
callean  stone,  which  seems  the  same  as  Pliny's  callaina  (xxxvii,  33),  a  stone  that 
came  from  'the  countries  lying  back  of  India,'  or  more  definitely,  Khorassan;  his  de- 
scription of  the  stone  itself  identifies  it  with  our  turquois,  etc."  This  opinion,  how- 
ever, is  more  than  hypothetical.  First  of  all,  as  already  pointed  out  by  Lassen 
(Indische  Altertumskunde,  Vol.  Ill)  p.  14,  Leipzig,  1858),  it  is  doubtful  whether  the 
kallcanos  of  the  Periplus  is  identical  with  the  callaina  of  Pliny,  because  the  localities 
where,  according  to  the  latter,  the  stone  is  found  are  too  remote  from  India  to  make 
it  possible  for  it  to  have  been  exported  from  the  port  of  Barbaricon  at  the  mouth  of 
the.  Indus.  Secondly,  the  supposed  identification  of  Pliny's  callaina  or  callais  with 
the  turquois  is  no  more  than  a  weak  guess,  and  one  that  is  highly  improbable;  and  a 
mere  guess,  even  though  it  may  be  repeated  by  a  dozen  or  more  authors,  will  never 
become  a  fact.  It  is  said  in  Daremberg  and  Saglio  (Dictionnaire  des  antiquit^s 
grecs  et  romains.  Vol.  II,  p.  1463):  "On  suppose  que  c'est  la  turquoise;"  and  H. 
Blumner  (Technologic  und  Terminologie  der  Gewerbe  und  Kiinste  bei  Griechen 
und  Romern,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  249,  Leipzig,  1884)  justly  concludes  that  the  evidence  does 
not  by  any  means  seem  to  be  sufficient  to  establish  the  identification  of  the  turquois 
with  the  callais  of  the  ancients  as  a  positive  fact.  The  vague  "description"  given 
by  Pliny  (XXXVII,  110-2,  151)  of  the  stone  bears  out  no  striking  reference  to  the 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  3 

of  the  Indians  with  turquois  was  conveyed  to  them  by  way  of  Persia, 
it  seems  highly  probable  also  that  their  beliefs  in  the  medicinal  proper- 
ties of  the  stone,  were  at  least  partially  derived  from  Mohammedan 
lore.' 

From  an  interesting  text  of  the  Arabic  traveler  al-Berunl  (973-1048) 
translated  by  E.  Wiedemann  ^  we  now  see  that  Persian  turquoises  were 
indeed  exported  from  Persia  into  India,  for  the  Arabic  author  remarks 
in  his  notes  on  the  firuzag  (turquois)  that  the  people  of  Irag  prefer  the 

turquois,  its  main  characteristics  not  being  at  all  set  forth,  and  may  suit  many  other 
stones  as  well;  the  pale  green  color  {e  viridi  pallens)  and  the  attributes ^.y/M/o^a  ac 
sordium  plena  by  no  means  fit  the  Persian  turquois  which  owes  its  reputation  to  its 
deep-bhie  tinge  and  its  purity,  nor  has  turquois  the  color  of  the  emerald;  the  localities 
pointed  out  by  him  (nascitur  post  aversa  Indiae,  apud  incolas  Caucasi,  montis  Hyr- 
canos,  Sacas,  Dahas)  rather  militate  against  the  turquois.  Mr.  Skoff's  hint  at 
Khorasan  (not  given  by  Pliny,  who  only  alludes  to  Carmania)  is  a  somewhat  arbitrary 
opinion  prompted  by  the  desire  to  suit  the  convenience  of  his  case.  The  principal 
point  at  issue,  however,  is  that  there  is  no  evidence  for  the  alleged  mining  of  turquois 
on  Persian  soil  in  the  first  century  A.  D.  (see  p.  40)  merely  presumed  but  not  proved  by 
Mr.  Skoff  and  his  predecessors.  If  Pliny  had  known  about  the  quarrying  of  turquois 
in  Khorasan,  he  would  have  plainly  stated  the  fact  with  an  undisguised  reference  to 
Persia  or  that  particular  province;  but  there  is  not  one  classical  author  with  a  knowl- 
edge of  Persian  turquois,  nor  is  there  any  evidence  proving  that  turquois  was  traded 
from  Persia  into  Greece  and  Rome.  The  tradition  of  India  incontrovertibly  shows 
that  the  Persian  turquois,  both  in  its  name  and  as  a  matter,  appeared  in  India  only  as 
late  as  the  Mohammedan  period,  and  the  negative  evidence  of  archaeology  lends  further 
support  to  this  conclusion.  Enough  archaeological  work  has  been  carried  out  in  India 
to  prompt  us  to  the  positive  statement  that,  despite  the  numerous  precious  stones  dis- 
covered in  ancient  graves,  no  find  has  ever  yielded  a  single  turquois.  The  jewels, 
for  example,  in  the  burial-place  of  Buddha  at  Piprava  discovered  by  W.  C.  PEPPf 
{Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1898,  p.  573;  Rhys  Davids,  ibid.,  1901,  p.  397;  G. 
Oppert,  Globus,  Vol.  LXXXIII,  1903,  p.  .225)  were  carnelian,  conch,  amethyst, 
topaz,  garnet,  coral,  and  crystal.  A  similar  state  of  affairs  in  regard  to  the  Persian 
turquois,  as  will  be  seen  on  p.  56,  obtains  in  China  where  the  turquois  of  NishapQr 
and  Kerman  became  known  very  late  in  the  middle  ages,  during  the  Mongol  period 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  is  thus  plainly  indicated  by  these  two  coincidences  in 
India  and  China  which  cannot  be  merely  accidental  that  it  was  only  the  Arabs,  and 
after  the  conquest  of  Persia  in  642  A.  D.,  who  imported  the  turquois  from  Persia  into 
India  and  China;  and  the  fact  is  quite  certain  that  only  in  this  late  period  the  Persian 
turquois  began  to  conquer  the  market  of  the  world.  There  is,  accordingly,  no  reason 
whatever  to  interpret  the  stone  in  question  mentioned  by  the  Periplus  as  the  Persian, 
or  any  other  turquois.  The  best  supposition  would  be  to  recognize  in  the  word  of  the 
Greek  text,  as  in  so  many  others  of  the  Periplus,  the  transcription  of  an  Indian  word 
(compare  J.  Block  in  Melanges  Sylvain  Levi,  p.  3,  Paris,  191 1),  presumably  Sanskrit 
kalyana,  "good,  fine,  excellent,"  which  is  one  of  the  attributes  of  gold  (R.  Garbe,  Die 
indischen  Mineralien,  p.  33),  or  in  the  form  kalyanaka  is  used  with  reference  to  medi- 
cines (compare  also  ifea/jawt  and  feo/janifec,  "red  arsenic").     See  also  p.  41,  note  6. 

1  On  the  other  hand  it  should  not  be  overlooked  that  certain  notions  entertained 
regarding  turquois  among  the  Arabs  and  persisting  later  in  Europe  are  absent  in 
India  and  Tibet.  Among  these  are  the  employment  of  the  stone  as  an  eye-remedy 
and  against  the  stings  of  the  scorpion,  the  latter  idea  first  app'earing  in  the  Greek 
physician  Dioscorides  of  the  first  century  (compare  L.  Leclerc,  Traits  des  simples 
par  Ibn  el-Beithar  [i  197-1248],  Vol.  Ill,  p.  50,  Notices  et  extraits  des  manuscrits  de 
la  Biblioth^que  Nationale,  Vol.  XXVI,  Paris,  1883,  J.  Ruska,  Das  Steinbuch  des 
Aristoteles,  p.  152  [Heidelberg,  1912],  and  Boetius  de  Boot,  /.  c,  p.  270). 

^  Ueber  den  Wert  von  Edelsteinen  bei  den  Muslimen  {Der  Islam,  Vol.  II,  191 1, 
P-  352). 


4      Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

smooth  ones,  those  of  India  Hke  the  round  ones  with  convex  surface.^ 
This  is  so  far  also  the  earHest  testimony  for  the  presence  of  the  turquois 
in  India. 

The  fact  that  turquois  is  absent  from  India  is  confirmed  by  the 
negative  testimony  of  the  great  merchant  traveler  Jean  Baptiste 
Tavernier  ( 1 605-1 689),  who,  as  a  dealer  and  expert  in  precious  stones, 
repeatedly  traveled  in  India  and  became  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
customs  of  that  country.     He  writes  in  chapter  nineteen  of  his  Travels  •} 

"Turquoise  is  only  found  in  Persia,  and  is  obtained  in  two  mines.  The  one  which 
is  called  'the  old  rock'  is  three  days'  journey  from  Meshed  towards  the  north-west 
and  near  to  a  large  town  called  Nichabourg  (Nishapur);  the  other,  which  is  called 
'  the  new '  is  five  days'  journey  from  it,"  etc. 

Tavernier  would  have  certainly  known  about  the  existence  of 
turquoises  in  India  if  they  ever  occurred  there  in  situ.  The  various 
reports  of  modem  travelers  that  turquoises  are  imported  from  India 
into  Tibet  are  therefore  to  be  interpreted  in  the  sense  that  these  Indian 
turquoises  have  been  imported  from  Persia. 

Also  Max  Bauer  ^  states  that  turquois  is  not  found  in  India,  Burma 
and  Ceylon.  But  the  same  author  does  not  note  its  occurrence  in 
Tibet  and  China. 

Abul  Fazl  Allami  *  (1551-1602),  in  his  history  of  Akbar,  entmierates 
among  the  precious  stones  in  the  treasury  of  the  emperor  rubies,  dia- 
monds, emeralds,  and  pearls,  but  not  turquois.  Turquois  seems  to 
have  been  everywhere  an  ornament  of  the  people,  but  not  one  of  royal 
personages.^ 

In  the  modem  jewelry  of  India  the  turquois  is  utilized  to  some 

*  The  opinion  formerly  prevailed  in  Europe  that  the  turquois  was  found  in  India 
because  it  was  exported  from  there.  This  was  the  view  of  Franciscus  Rueus  (De 
gemmis  aliquot,  p.  54  b,  Tiguri,  1565) ;  but  the  turquoises  exported  from  India  were  in 
fact  derived  from  Persia. 


2  Ed.  of  V.  Ball,  Vol.  II,  p.  103  (London,  li 

'Precious  Stones,  p.  397  (London,  1904).^ G.  Watt  (A  Dictionary  of  the 
Economic  Products  of  India,  Vol.  VI,  p.  204,  London,  1893)  says  after  the  Manual  of 
Geology  of  India:  "The  existence  of  the  true  turquois  in  India  is  doubtful.  From  the 
presence  of  blue  streaks  in  the  copper  ores  of  Ajmir,  Mr.  Prinsep  suggested  the  possi- 
bility of  the  stone  being  found  there.  Subsequently  Dr.  Irvine  reported  its  existence 
in  these  measures,  but,  according  to  Ball,  the  so-called  turquoises  of  Ajmir  are  only 
blue  copper  ore." 

^  The  Ain  I  Akbari,  translated  from  the  Persian  by  H.  Blochmann,  Vol.  I,  p.  15 
(Calcutta,  1873).     The  original  was  published  in  1597. 

^  Compare  p.  30,  note  3.  In  the  Arabic  account  of  Abu  Zeid  of  the  ninth  century 
(translated  by  M.  Reinaud,  Relation  des  voyages  faits  par  les  Arabes  et  les  Persans 
dans  rinde  et  k  la  Chine,  Vol.  I,  p.  151,  Paris,  1845)  it  is  said:  "The  kings  of  India 
are  in  the  habit  of  wearing  ear-pendants  consisting  of  precious  stones  mounted  on 
gold;  they  wear  necklaces  of  the  highest  price  composed  of  red  and  green  stones  of 
the  first  quality.  But  it  is  the  pearls  on  which  they  place  a  greater  esteem,  and 
which  are  eagerly  coveted  by  them;  these  now  form  the  treasure  of  the  sovereigns, 
their  principal  wealth." 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  5 

extent  in  connection  with  pearl,  ruby,  diamond,  sapphire,  topaz  and 
emerald,  set  in  silver  or  gold.^ 

II.    Turquois  in  Tibet 

As  jade  is  the  recognized  jewel  of  the  Chinese,  so  turquois  is  the 
standard  gem  of  the  Tibetans.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese  jade  is  not 
a  stone,  but  forms  a  distinct  class  sui  generis,  as  is  shown  by  such 
constant  phrases  uttered  from  the  lips  of  stone  dealers:  shi  yii  pu  shi 
shi-Vou,  "it  is  jade,  it  is  not  a  stone."  ^  To  call  a  turquois  a  stone 
means  an  offense  to  the  Tibetan,  and  he  will  exclaim  indignantly,  di  yu 
re,  dd  ma  re,  "this  is  a  turquois,  and  not  a  stone."  The  Tibetan  word 
for  turquois,  gyu  (pronounced  yu,  without  sounding  the  prefix  g,  which, 
however,  appears  in  the  Mongol  loan  word  ughiu)  ^  is  indigenous 
property,  being  derived  neither  from  Sanskrit  nor  Chinese;  it  shows 
that  turquois  must  have  been  known  to  the  Tibetans  since  remote 
times.  There  are,  doubtless,  also  many  ancient  turquoises  still  in 
their  possession  as  they  are  inherited  from  mother  to  daughter  for 
generations,  and  thus  kept  as  heirlooms  in  the  same  family  for  centuries ; 
being  constantly  exposed  to  the  open  air,  they  readily  change  color 
and  often  assume  a  pale  green  shade,  more  or  less  tainted  with  black 
spots. 

Two  special  sorts  of  turquoises  are  called  drug-dkar  and  drug-dmar, 
that  is,  white  drug  and  red  drug]  the  word  drug  designates  the  number  6, 
and  the  two  terms  are  explained  to  designate  very  fine  kinds  of  tur- 
quoises supposed  to  be  one-sixth  part  white  or  red  in  tint,  respectively. 
Desgodins,  in  the  Tibetan  Dictionary  published  by  the  French  mission- 
aries, translates  the  two  by  white  and  red  sapphire,  but  also  reminds 

1  G.  C.  M.  BiRDWOOD,  The  Industrial  Arts  of  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  25.  In  the  Higin- 
botham  collection  of  jewelry  in  the  Field  Museum  there  are  several  fine  specimens 
of  Indian  jewelry  in  which  turquois  is  emploj'^ed,  collected  in  India  by  Mr.  Lucknow 
de  Forrest  of  New  York.  G.  Watt  {I.  c.)  remarks  that  the  turquois  is  largely  used 
by  the  natives  of  India  in  jewelry  but  that  imitations  are  perhaps  more  generally 
employed  than  the  true  stone.  While  I  do  not  deny  that  such  imitations  may  occur, 
I  do  not  believe  that  they  are  very  generally  in  use. — Aside  from  the  mineralogical 
treatises  quoted  above,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  word  for  turquois  has  not  yet  been  point- 
ed out  in  any  other  work  of  Sanskrit  literature.  The  Sanskrit  romance  Vasavadatta 
by  Subandhu  of  the  seventh  century  (translated  by  L.  H.  Gray,  pp.  85,  109,  Col. 
Un.  Indo-Iranian  Series,  Vol.  VIII,  New  York,  1913)  mentions  a  necklace  of  pearls 
and  sapphires,  further  emeralds  and  rubies,  diamonds  and  other  stones,  but  not 
turquois,  which,  as  shown  also  by  such  passages,  was  a  late  intruder  in  such  combi- 
nations as  stated  above,  and  alien  to  the  artistic  taste  of  India. 

^  The  agate  (ma-nao)  is,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese,  "neither  a  stone  nor  a  jade," 
but  a  thing  for  itself. 

'  In  more  ancient  texts  the  word  is  written  also  rgyu,  thus  showing  that  in  the 
ancient  pronunciation  also  the  g  was  sounded.  A  singular  word  for  turquois  is  the 
Mongol  kiris  which  has  thus  far  been  pointed  out  but  once  in  literature  (Laufer, 
T'oung  Pao,  1908,  p.  431),  and  which  presumably  represents  the  ancient  Mongol 
word  for  the  turquois  in  times  before  the  introduction  of  the  Tibetan  loan  word. 


6       Field  Museum  of  Natural  History — Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

us  of  the  fact  that  the  native  dictionaries  interpret  them  as  gyu  "tur- 
quois."  While  I  have  encountered  a  great  number  of  turquoises  with 
white  and  black  veins  and  streaks,  I  have  never  seen  any  with  a  red 
tinge.^  This  classification  of  turquoises  is  contained  in  the  ancient 
Tibetan  medical  work  known  under  the  abbreviated  title  "The  Four 
Tantra"  ^  (rgyud  Mi,  Peking  edition,  Vol.  II,  fol.  145  b).  The  literary- 
history  of  this  interesting  work  remains  to  be  made  out.^  Originally 
based  on  a  standard  Sanskrit  work  translated  into  Tibetan  in  the 
middle  of  the  eighth  century,  it  passed  through  the  hands  of  several 
distinguished  Tibetan  physicians  who  revised  and  increased  the  work 
considerably.  It  contains  not  only  information  on  Indian  anatomy'-, 
pharmacology  and  therapeutics,  but  also  valuable  material  with  respect 
to  the  natural  products  of  Tibet  and  Mongolia.  The  manifold  sub- 
sequent interpolations  render  the  utilization  of  these  notes  for  historical 
research  exceedingly  difficult  when  the  question  arises  as  to  the  time 
to  which  they  must  be  referred.  A  literal  translation  of  the  notice 
regarding  turquois  runs  as  follows: 

"The  turquois,  in  general,  represents  one  species  with  two  varieties, 
—  that  of  best  quality  and  the  common  one.  Of  the  former  there  are 
two  kinds,  the  one  blue  and  white,  of  great  lustre,  called  drug  dkar;  the 
other  blue  and  red,  of  great  lustre  and  polished,  called  drug  dmar. 
There  is,  thirdly,  a  turquois  of  superior  quality  excelling  the  others  in 
splendor,  known  as  the  turquois  shy  ad,  'beauty.'  The  common  ones 
are  'the  intermediate  turquois  resembling  the  drug  dmar,'  and  'the 
blue  turquois  resembling  the  drug  dkar.'  There  are,  further,  the  Indian 
turquoises  originating  abroad,  and  others.  They  entirely  remove  poison 
and  heat  of  the  liver.  Substances  belonging  to  the  class  of  turquois  and 
rock-crystal  are  so-called  elements  not  fusible."  * 

If  it  could  be  proved  with  certainty  that  this  note  in  the  present 
tenor  was  already  contained  in  the  Sanskrit  text  or  in  the  Tibetan  version 
of  the  eighth  century,  it  would  be  of  a  certain  value  in  showing  that  at 
that  comparatively  early  date  turquoises  were  known  in  India,  perhaps 
also  traded  from  India  into  Tibet  and  then  played  a  role  in  the  phar- 
macopoea  of  both  countries.  But  such  evidence  could  be  established 
only  on  the  ground  of  an  ancient  edition  preserving  the  original  status 

*  Dr.  Joseph  E.  Pogue  informs  me  that  the  iron-oxide  matrix  in  turquois  from  a 
number  of  locaUties  is  reddish. 

"See  Heinrich  Laufer,  Beitrage  zur  Kenntnis  der  tibetischen  Medicin,  p.  12 
(Berlin,  1899). 

'  The  brief  notes  given  by  Mr.  Walsh  {Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1910, 
p.  12 1 8)  are  not  yet  satisfactory  and  far  from  being  exhaustive. 

*  In  opposition  to  the  four  metals,  gold,  silver,  copper  and  iron,  enumerated 
shortly  before  this  passage,  which  are  designated  as  "fusible  elements." 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  7 

of  the  work.  From  what  has  been  said  above  regarding  the  history  of 
the  turquois  in  India  it  is  not  very  probable  that  the  passage  existed  in 
the  Sanskrit  original,  and  if  we  assume  on  the  basis  of  the  available 
evidence  that  the  Persian  turquois  spread  in  India  between  the  tenth 
and  the  fifteenth  century,  the  clause  of  the  Tibetan  text  relative  to 
Indian  turquoises  must  be  regarded  as  an  interpolation,  not  older  perhaps 
than  the  sixteenth  century.  The  one  feature,  however,  is  conspicuous 
that  the  Tibetan  terminology  of  the  turquois  varieties  is  not  borrowed  from 
India,  but  created  in  Tibet;  it  distinctly  refers  to  the  native  stones,  in 
opposition  to  those  of  India  named  last,  and  may  well  claim  a  certain 
age.  Altogether  six  kinds  are  enumerated,  and  in  the  plates  illustrating 
all  objects  of  the  materia  medica  described  in  the  text,  six  kinds  of 
turquois  are  really  pictured. 

The  plates  here  referred  to  are  twelve  large  scrolls  or  charts  pre- 
served in  the  Great  Lama  Temple  {Yung  ho  kung)  of  Peking,  exact 
copies  of  which  I  had  made  by  an  experienced  Lama  painter;  the  anat- 
omy and  physiology  of  the  human  body,  and  all  medicinal  substances 
derived  from  the  three  kingdoms  are  there  figured  in  colors,  labeled 
with  their  Tibetan  names  and  accompanied  by  references  to  the  chap- 
ters of  the  Four  Tantra  where  they  are  described.  The  turquoises 
are  represented,  like  the  other  substances,  as  being  placed  in  rectangular 
trays  supported  by  a  standard  or  provided  with  three  feet.  The  first 
two  kinds,  drug  dkar  an.d  drug  dmar,  are  painted  in  a  deep-blue  color 
and  of  oblong  shape,  no  noticeable  difference  between  the  two  being 
visible ;  the  edge  is  marked  by  a  blue  line  in  gold  (apparently  to  express 
the  high  quality  of  the  stone)  bordered  by  a  line  of  black  ink.  It  is 
curious  to  observe  that  in  each  case  six  stones  have  been  outlined,  and 
it  is  therefore  evident  that  the  draughtsman  was  guided  by  a  literal 
interpretation  of  the  two  terms  drug  dkar  and  drug  dmar,  "White  Six" 
and  "Red  Six."  It  is  hardly  plausible  that  a  set  of  six  stones  should 
have  been  the  fixed  requirement  in  ancient  times  and  resulted  in  this 
peculiar  nomenclature,  and  I  am  also  inclined  to  think  that  the  modem 
Tibetan  explanation  as  given  above, —  a  stone  containing  one-sixth  of 
white  or  red  tinge, —  is  a  makeshift  or  an  afterthought.  It  would  seem 
more  reasonable  to  assume  that  drug  in  this  case  has  no  connection  with 
the  numeral  six,  but  is  an  ancient  noun  signifying  this  particular  variety 
of  turquois.  The  third  variety  sbyad,  also  a  group  of  six  stones,  is 
painted  light-blue;  they  are  pear-shaped,  almost  globular,  surmounted 
by  a  curved  tip.  The  two  common  kinds  are  each  figured  as  one  large 
stone,  the  one  light-blue,  the  other  grayish-blue,  both  of  curious  and 
fantastic  outlines  which  it  is  hard  to  describe.  On  the  second  of  the 
two,  cloud-patterns  in  Chinese  style  of  drawing  are  delineated,  probably 


8      Field  Museum  of  Natural  History —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

intended  to  indicate  a  ''clouded"  stone/  while  the  first  is  decorated  with 
horizontal  rows  of  small  black  rings  presumably  expressing  veins  in  the 
stone.  The  Indian  turquoises,  again  six  in  number,  are,  in  distinction 
from  all  the  preceding  ones,  light-green  in  color  with  fine  black  veins, 
and  pointed  or  triangular  in  shape.  It  certainly  remains  an  open 
question  as  to  how  far  these  drawings  are  faithfully  preserved,  but 
despite  their  imperfection  we  may  learn  from  them  that  the  appreciation 
of  turquoises  by  the  ancient  Tibetans  was  graduated  as  follows :  Deep- 
blue,  lustrous  stones  without  flaw  took  the  foremost  rank;^  white  and  red 
strips  or  layers  were  not  considered  a  blemish,  but  rather  a  special 
beauty;  the  lighter  the  blue,  and  the  more  approaching  a  gray  and 
green,  the  more  it  sank  in  estimation;  stones  with  black  veins  and  streaks 
and  with  cloudy  strata  were  looked  upon  as  common,  also  those  of 
greenish  hues.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  scale  of  valuation 
doubtless  going  back  to  ancient  times  holds  good  also  for  the  present  age. 

The  small  turquoises  not  larger  than  a  lentil  and  used  for  the  setting 
in  rings,  are  designated  pra. 

As  famous  swords,  daggers,  saddles  and  coats-of-mail  received  in 
Tibet  individual  names,  so  also  celebrated  turquoises  were  given  special 
designations.  Thus,  we  read  in  the  History  of  the  Kings  of  Ladakh 
that  among  fifteen  turquoises  brought  from  Gu-ge  in  West  Tibet,  the 
best  were  two,  namely,  the  Lha  gyu  od-ldan,  "the  resplendent  turquois 
of  the  gods,"  and  the  Lha  gyu  dkar-po,  "the  white  turquois  of  the  gods."  ' 
Thus,  there  are  also  celebrated  historical  turquoises,  as  it  is  recorded 
in  regard  to  King  Du-srong  mang-po  (beginning  of  the  eighth  century) 
that  he  found  the  largest  turquois  then  known  in  the  world,  on  the  top 
of  Mount  Tag-tse,  a  few  miles  north  of  Lhasa.* 

The  name  of  an  ancient  well-known  family  of  Tibet  is  gYu-Vog  (that 
is,  Turquois-Roof).  The  most  celebrated  member  of  it  was  a  physician 
and  author  of  medical  works,  who  flourished  in  the  eighth  century  and 
three  times  visited  India  to  study  medicine  at  the  University  of  Nalanda. 
His  biography,  a  very  interesting  work,  is  still  in  existence  where  it  is 
narrated  that  he  was  once  visited  by  gods  and  demons,  who  presented 

1  A  term  used  also  in  India  (R.  Garbe,  Die  indischen  Mineralien,  p.  72,  note  2) 
and  in  our  mineralogy  (with  respect  to  veins  or  spots  of  lighter  or  darker  color  than 
the  area  surrounding  them). 

*  This  was  the  case  likewise  among  the  Arabs.  The  best  sort  of  turquois  was 
considered  the  one  "of  a  complete  purity  of  color,  of  a  perfect  polish,  and  of  a  hue 
entirely  uniform"  (L.  Leclerc,  Traits  des  simples  par  Ibn  El-Beithar  [i  197-1248], 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  51,  Notices  et  extraits  des  manuscrits  de  la  Bibliotheque  Nalionale,  Vol. 
XXVI,  Paris,  1883).  In  a  similar  manner,  al-BeranI  expresses  his  opinion  (Wiede- 
mann, Der  Islam,  Vol.  II,  191 1,  p.  352). 

^  Journal  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  Vol.  LX,  pt.  i,  1891,  p.  123. 

*  Journal  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  Vol.  L,  pt.  i,  1881,  p.  223. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  9 

him  with  an  immense  quantity  of  ttirquoises  and  other  precious  stones, 
heaping  them  on  the  roof  of  his  house,  hence  the  origin  of  his  name. 
The  mansion  of  this  family  still  stands  in  Lhasa  near  a  bridge  called 
" Turquois-Roof  Bridge."  A  Chinese  author,  writing  in  1792,  men- 
tions this  bridge  and  records  the  following  tradition:  "In  the  trans- 
parent waters  of  the  river  are  turquois,  colored  rocks  whose  bluish 
tinge  seems  on  the  point  of  dissolving  into  water;  the  tops  of  the  stones 
are  bowl-shaped;  if  once  dug  away  from  the  mud  around  them,  they 
would  look  as  big  as  elephants.  One  cannot  take  pebbles  out  of  this 
river  as  an  amusement  as  easily  as  in  other  streams."  ^  It  is  not  known 
whether  this  tradition  is  founded  on  fact,  or  whether  the  tradition 
connected  with  Doctor  gYu-t'og  and  his  name  gave  rise  to  the  notion 
of  turquoises  existing  in  the  river  whose  blue  tinge  may  have  lent  a 
support  to  such  a  view;  for  in  another  Chinese  source,  according  to 
RocKHiLL,  it  is  said:  "At  the  foot  of  Marpori  (the  mountain  on  which 
the  palace  of  the  Dalai  Lamas  rises)  meanders  the  Kyi-ch'u,  whose 
azure  bends  encircle  the  hill  with  a  network  green  as  the  dark  green 
bamboo;  it  is  so  lovely  that  it  drives  all  cares  away  from  the  beholder." 
In  641  A.  D.,  the  powerful  Tibetan  king  Srong-btsan  sgam-po  mar- 
ried a  Chinese  princess,  the  daughter  of  the  Emperor  T'ai-tsung  of  the 
T'ang  dynasty.  The  story  of  his  wooing  of  the  princess  has  been  made 
by  the  Tibetans  into  a  poetical  romance  in  which  we  find  such  well- 
known  and  world-wide  motives  of  popular  tradition  as  the  difficult 
tasks  to  be  solved  bj'-  the  prospective  son-in-law.^  The  candidates  for 
the  hand  of  the  princess  were  many,  so  the  emperor  decided  that  he 
should  obtain  her  who  could  best  stand  a  number  of  tests.  One  of 
these  was  that  he  laid  before  the  assembled  delegates  a  buckler  con- 
structed of  a  coil  of  turquois  arranged  in  concentric  circles  so  that  one 
end  of  it  just  formed  the  center;  he  required  that  a  silk  thread  should  be 
passed  through  the  apertures  of  the  turquoises  from  one  end  of  the  coil 
to  the  other.  Nobody  could  solve  the  puzzle  except  the  astute  Tibetan 
minister  Gar  who  caught  a  queen-ant  and  fed  it  well  with  milk  until  it 
grew  bigger.  Then  he  tied  a  silk  thread  to  its  waist,  fastening  the  end 
of  the  thread  to  a  silk  band  which  he  held  in  his  hand,  and  placed  the 
ant  in  the  perforation  of  the  first  turquois,  gently  blowing  into  the  hole, 
till  to  the  amazement  of  the  lookers-on  the  ant  came  out  at  the  other 
end  of  the  coil  dragging  the  thread  along. ^ 

^  According  to  the  translation  of  W.  W.  Rockhill,  Tibet  from  Chinese  Sources 
{Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  Vol.  XXIII,  1891,  p.  76). 

^  Compare  R.  H.  Lowie,  The  Test-theme  in  North  American  Mythology  {Journal 
of  American  Folk-lore,  Vol.  XXI,  1908,  pp.  97-148). 

'  Narrated  in  the  Tibetan  Annals  of  the  Kings  of  Tibet  {rgyal  robs,  manuscript 
in  the  writer's  possession),  Chapter  13,  fol.  45a. 


lo     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History — Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

The  word  "turquois"  (gyti)  has  become  a  favorite  attribute  to 
designate  a  sky-blue  color;  " turquois-lake "  {gyu  mts'o)  may  be  called 
poetically  any  blue-glittering  lake,  but  is  also  the  constant  epithet  of 
wells  and  certain  favorite  lakes,  as,  for  example,  for  the  sacred  Mana- 
sarovara  Lake  or  the  Lake  of  Yar-brog  (Yamdog).^  Also  flowers,  the 
manes  of  horses,  and  even  bees  and  tadpoles  are  described  in  the  same 
manner;  the  hair  of  goddesses  and  the  eyebrows  of  children  bom  in  a 
supernatural  way  are  called  turquois-blue ;  also  the  beauty  of  the  body 
of  such  beings  is  compared  to  the  turquois.  In  Spiti  the  forget-me-not 
is  called  yu-hmg  men-tog,  that  is,  the  flower  whose  essence  or  main 
substance  is  turquois.^  In  ancient  mythology  "thirteen  turquois 
heavens"  are- mentioned,  and  as  we  speak  of  the  Blue  of  Heaven,  or 
the  sky,  the  Tibetans  say  poetically  "the  turquois  of  Heaven."  In  a 
Tibetan  legend,  a  poetical  description  of  the  country  is  given  as  follows:* 

"At  the  foot  of  the  giant  mountains  (the  Himalaya)  supporting  the  sky,  lakes  and 
flowing  streams  gather,  forming  plains  of  the  appearance  of  turquois,  and  glittering 
pyramids  of  snow-clad  crystal  rise.  This  mountain  range  spreading  like  a  thousand 
lotus  flowers  is  white  and  like  crystal  during  the  three  winter-months;  during  the 
three  months  of  the  summer  it  is  azure-blue  like  turquois ;  during  the  three  months  of 
the  autumn  it  is  yellow  like  gold,  and  in  the  moons  of  the  spring,  striped  like  the  skin 
of  the  tiger.  This  chain  of  mountains,  excellent  in  color  and  form,  and  of  perfect 
harmony,  is  inexhaustible  in  auspicious  omens." 

This  passage  is  very  interesting  as  revealing  the  innate  nature-love 
of  the  Tibetan  people  and  showing  the  connection  of  the  colors  of 
their  favorite  gems  with  the  general  colors  of  nature  in  the  course  of  the 
seasons.'*     With  the  majority  of  the  people,  turquois  is  favorite,  coral 

1  Also  in  the  ancient  Egyptian  texts,  the  word  turquois  is  used  as  a  designation 
for  the  color  of  water.  "Praises  shall  be  offered  unto  thee  in  thy  boat,  thou  shalt  be 
hymned  in  the  Atet  boat,  thou  shalt  behold  Ra  within  his  shrine,  thou  shalt  sit  to- 
gether with  his  disk  day  by  day,  thou  shalt  see  the  Ant  fish  when  it  springeth  in.to 
being  in  the  waters  of  turquoises,  and  thou  shalt  see  the  Abtu  fish  in  his  hour." — 
Hymn  to  the  God  Ra,  in  the  Book  of  the  Dead,  by  E.  A.  Wallis  Budge,  Vol.  I, 
1901,  p.  78.  Interesting  studies  pertaining  to  the  color  of  Tibetan  lakes  and  rivers 
have  been  made  by  Hermann  v.  Schlagintweit,  Untersuchungen  liber  die  Salzseen 
im  westlichen  Tibet,  pp.  yi  et  seq.  {Abhandlungen  der  bayerischen  Akademie,  Munchen, 
1871). 

^  In  this  case  the  word  zung  is  to  be  written  gzung.  A.  H.  Francke  (Ladakhi 
Songs,  p.  13.  Reprinted  from  Indian  Antiquary,  1902)  has  proposed  to  adopt  the 
spelling  iung  in  the  sense  of  chung  "small,"  so  that  the  name  would  mean  "flower  of 
small  turquoises." 

*  Compare  I.  J.  Schmidt,  Geschichte  der  Ost-Mongolen,  p.  465  (St.  Petersburg, 
1829).  In  another  passage  (p.  439)  it  is  said:  "On  the  plain  where  diamond  rocks 
glitter  is  a  lake  with  a  mirror  like  turquois  and  gold."     See  also  p.  484. 

■•  In  a  Tibetan  poem  depicting  the  labors  of  husbandry  {So-nam  bya  ts'ul-gyi  leu, 
published  in  the  Tibetan  School  Series,  No.  II,  Calcutta,  1890),  the  awakening  of 
the  spring  is  described,  and  the  first  buds  on  the  uppermost  branches  of  the  trees  are 
compared  with  the  glimmer  of  emeralds ;  the  flowers  with  antlers  appear  as  vomiting 
sapphires;  the  great  earth  is  teeming  with  sap,  and  resembles  the  malachite  in  its 
medley  of  blue  and  green  colors. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  ii 

and  amber  rank  next.  The  blue,  green,  and  blue-green;  the  red,  rose, 
and  pink;  the  yellow  and  brown  of  these  three  substances  are  indeed 
those  tinges  which  most  frequently  occur  among  the  flora  of  the  Tibetan 
plateaus.  During  the  summer,  large  patches  of  blue,  red  and  yellow 
flowers  abound  on  the  fine  pasture  lands,  and  at  this  sight  I  could  never 
suppress  the  thought  that  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Tibetans  for  turquois, 
coral  and  amber  must  have  been  suggested  and  strengthened  by  these 
beautiful  shades  of  their  flowers  which  their  women  as  readily  use  for 
ornament  as  stones;  indeed,  it  seems  to  me,  as  if  owing  to  its  permanency, 
the  stone  were  only  a  substitute  for  the  perishable  material  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom. 

Turquoises,  usually  in  connection  with  gold,  belong  to  the  most 
ancient  propitiatory  offerings  to  the  gods  and  demons  ;^  in  the  enumera- 
tion, gold  always  precedes  turquois  as  the  more  valuable  gift.  They 
also  figure  among  the  presents  bestowed  on  saints  and  Lamas  by  kings 
and  wealthy  laymen.  The  thrones  on  which  kings  and  Lamas  take  their 
place  are  usually  described  as  adorned  with  gold  and  turquoises,  and 
they  wear  cloaks  ornamented  with  these  stones.  It  may  be  inferred 
from  traditions  and  epic  stories  that  in  ancient  times  arrowheads  were 
made  not  only  of  common  flint,  but  also  occasionally  of  turquois  to 
which  a  high  value  was  attached.  A  powerful  saint,  by  touching  the 
bow  and  arrow  of  a  blacksmith,  transforms  the  bow  into  gold,  and  the 
arrowhead  into  turquois.^  The  hero  Gesar  owns  thirty  arrows  with 
notches  of  turquois.^ 

In  the  popular  medicine  of  the  present  time  turquois  is,  as  far  as  I 
know,  not  employed;  but  it  is  officially  registered  as  a  medicament  in 
several  medical  standard  works  derived  from  or  modeled  after  Sanskrit 
books.  There  we  meet  the  typical  series  of  ten  substances:  gold, 
silver,  copper,  iron;  turquois,  pearl,  mother-o '-pearl,  conch,  coral, 
lapis  lazuli.''  Turquois  is  credited,  as  we  saw.  above,  with  removing 
poison,  and  heat  in  the  liver.  It  seems  almost  certain  that  this  notion 
is  taken  from  Indian  lore;  we  remember  the  words  of  Narahari  that 
every  poison  is  rapidly  neutralized  by  it,  and  that  it  relieves  pain  caused 
by  demons.     Also  in  the  list  of  365  drugs  published  in  Tibetan  and  Chi- 

1  Laufer,  Ein  Suhngedicht  der  Bonpo  {Denkschriften  der  Wiener  Akademie,  1900, 
No.  7,  p.  35);  ScHLAGiNTWEiT,  Die  Konige  von  Tibet,  p.  837;  A.  H.  Francke, 
Journal  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  N.  S.,  Vol.  VI,  1910,  p.  408. 

-  Laufer,  Roman  einer  tibetischen  Konigin,  p.  153  (Leipzig,  191 1). 

'  L  J.  Schmidt,  Die  Taten  Bogda  Cesser  Chan's,  p.  283  (St.  Petersburg,  1839). 

*  This  series  occurs  also  in  the  Compendium  of  Tibetan  Medicine  translated  from 
the  Mongol  into  Russian  by  A.  Pozdnejev,  Vol.  I,  p.  247  (St.  Petersburg,  1908). 


12     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIIL 

nese  by  the  Peking  apothecary  Wan  7/  turquois  is  listed  as  a  medicament, 
in  the  same  series  as  given  above. 

A  curious  utilization  of  turquois  is  mentioned  in  the  Biography  of 
Padmasambhava  (Ch.  53)  who  is  said  to  have  availed  himself  of  gold, 
silver,  copper,  iron,  lapis  lazuli,  turquois  and  minium  inks  for  writing 
on  light-blue  paper  of  the  palmyra  palm  and  on  smoothed  birchbark.^ 
Whether  it  is  technically  possible  to  use  turquois  for  the  coloring  of 
ink  I  am  not  prepared  to  say;  perhaps  "turquois"  is  merely  a  designa- 
tion for  the  blue  or  green  color  of  the  ink. 

It  seems  doubtful  whether  in  ancient  times  the  turquois  was  con- 
sidered a  precious  stone  by  the  Tibetans.  There  is  an  old  enumeration 
of  jewels  in  the  Annals  of  the  Tibetan  Kings  (rgyal  robs,  fol.  7)  where 
the  two  classes,  jewels  of  the  gods  and  jewels  of  men,  are  distinguished, 
each  class  forming  a  series  of  five.  The  former  comprises:  i.  indranlla, 
2.  indragopi,  3.  mt'on-ka,  4.  mt'on-ka  ch'en-po,  and  5.  skong-mdzes.  The 
first  two  are  Sanskrit  words;  No.  i  is  the  sapphire;  No.  2  a  kind  of 
ruby;  the  word  under  3  denotes  the  color  of  indigo  and  corresponds  to 
Sanskrit  nlla  which  is  a  general  designation  of  the  sapphire;  also  the 
next  under  No.  4  meaning  "the  great  blue  one "  =  Sanskrit  mahdnlla, 
denotes  a  superior  quality  of  sapphire;^  the  signification  of  the  stone 
No.  5  is  unknown.  The  five  jewels  of  men  are  gold,  silver,  pearls,  lapis 
lazuli  (mu-men),  and  coral.  The  turquois  does  not  occur  in  this 
group,  presumably  for  the  reason  that  it  was  not  classed  among  precious 
stones.  It  has  never  been,  even  in  times  of  old,  a  stone  of  any  exag- 
gerated value.  Among  the  presents  made  by  the  ancient  kings  of 
Tibet  to  the  emperors  of  China  we  find  stones  like  lapis  lazuli  and  rubies 
(padmardga) ,  but  no  mention  of  turquois;  likewise,  in  the  lists  of  tribute 

^Regarding  this  work  compare  Bretschneider,  Botanicon  Sinicum,  pt.  i, 
p.  104  (Shanghai,  1882).  There  are  several  editions  of  this  interesting  small  work, 
in  Chinese  and  Tibetan  style. 

2  Laufer,  Roman,  p.  249.  Also  in  the  History  of  the  Kings  of  Ladakh  (A.  H. 
Francke's  translation  in  Journal  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  N.  S.,  Vol.  VI,  1910, 
p.  405)  writings  in  gold  and  turquois  are  attributed  to  five  wise  men  in  mythical 
times. 

'  Buddhabhatta  (Finot,  Les  lapidaires  indiens,  p.  41)  explains  indranlla  as  a 
sapphire  the  interior  of  which  has  the  lustre  of  the  rainbow  colors,  and  which  is  rare 
and  highly  priced,  and  mahdnlla  as  a  sapphire  with  a  color  so  intense  that,  thrown 
into  milk  of  a  volume  a  hundred  times  larger,  it  colors  it  like  indigo. —  "Sapphires  of 
various  colors  occur  in  India.  Thus,  there  is  the  blue  or  true  sapphire  of  .popular 
language,  the  color  of  which  may  be  any  shade  of  blue,  from  the  palest  to  a  deep  indi- 
go, the  most  esteemed  tint  being  that  of  the  blue  cornflower.  Violet  sapphires 
(oriental  amethysts)  are  also  found  in  the  same  localities  as  those  in  which  the  true 
sapphire  is  met  with.  The  most  valuable  sapphire  found  in  the  East  Indies  is  the 
yellow  sapphire  or  oriental  topaz.  A  green  gem,  called  by  the  Europeans  in  India  an 
emerald,  is  often  seen.  It  is,  however,  a  green  sapphire,  and  is  much  harder  than  the 
true  emerald,  which  is  a  green  beryl"  (G.  Watt,  A  Dictionary  of  the  Economic 
Products  of  India,  Vol.  VI,  p.  474). 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  13 

sent  by  the  Dalai  Lamas  to  the  emperors  of  China  such  gifts  figure  as 
silk  scarfs,  bronze  images,  relics,  coral,  amber,  pearls,  incense  and  woolen 
stuffs,  but  turquois  does  not  appear. 

In  the  religious  service  turquoises  are  employed,  strung  in  the  shape 
of  beads,  for  rosaries,  108  beads  being  the  usual  number.  The  com- 
plexion of  the  god  or  goddess  to  be  worshipped  sometimes  determines  the 
selection  in  the  color  of  the  rosary-beads.  Thus  a  turquois  rosary  is 
occasionally  used  in  the  worship  of  the  popular  goddess  Tara  of  whom 
there  are  two  principal  forms,  one  of  these  being  conceived  as  of  a 
bluish-green  complexion.^ 

Turquoises  are,  further,  offered  on  the  altars  of  the  gods,  and  their 
brass  or  copper  images  are  adorned  with  them.  Buddhist  images,  thus 
treated,  may  readily  be  recognized  as  Lamaist  deities,  as  the  Chinese 
never  adopt  this  method.  The  number  of  stones  set  in  an  image  varies 
according  to  its  dimensions,  and  may  reach  from  a  half  dozen  up  to  a 
hundred  and  more.  In  any  case,  however,  this  is  not  intended  as  a 
mere  ornamental  addition,  but  the  turquoises  are  to  signify  the  actual 
jewelry  with  which  the  deities  are  adorned,  and  which  form  part  of 
their  essential  attributes.  One  of  the  finest  moniunents  in  Tibet  is 
the  sarcophagus  of  the  first  Pan-ch'en  Lama  in  the  monastery  of  Tashi- 
Ihunpo  near  Shigatse.  It  is  of  gold,  covered  with  beautiful  designs  of 
ornamental  work,  and  studded  with  turquoises  and  precious  stones. 
The  turquoises,  says  Captain  Rawling,^  who  has  photographed  this 
gorgeous  monument,  appear  to  be  all  picked  stones,  arranged  in  patterns, 
and  in  such  profusion  as  to  cover  every  available  spot,  including  the 
polished  concrete  of  the  floor.  In  the  oldest  temple  founded  in  Tibet 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  bSam-yas,  which  is  described 
at  full  length  in  the  Annals  of  the  Tibetan  Kings,  there  was  a  shrine  in 
which  the  beams  are  said  to  have  been  of  tiwquois;  figures  of  galloping 
horses  of  gold  were  affixed  to  them,  while  there  were  other  beams  of 
gold  \vith  dragons  of  turquois  attached.'  This  is  the  earliest  Tibetan 
record  regarding  carvings  from  this  stone;  if  the  beams  of  turquois  are 
not  merely  a  metaphor  of  speech,  it  may  be  realized  that  the  turquoises 
were  inlaid  in  a  kind  of  mosaic. 

In  the  pictorial  art  of  Lamaism  jewels  take  a  prominent  place.  On 
the  first  scroll  in  a  set  of  twelve  pictures  (m  the  collections  of  the  Field 
Museum,  Nos.  121,371-382)  representing  the  Eighteen  Sthavira  or 
Arhat  and  the  portraits  of  the  Dalai  Lamas,  we  see  as  the  central  figure 

1  Compare  L.  A.  Waddell,  The  Buddhism  of  Tibet,  p.  209  (London,  1895). 
-  The  Great  Plateau,  p.  184  (London,  1905). 
'  T'oung  Pao,  1908,  p.  33. 


14    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol,  XIII. 

Buddha  ^akyamuni  holding  the  alms-bowl  of  lapis-lazuli  color/  On 
the  altar  in  front  is  depicted  a  golden  bowl  containing  rubies,  lapis 
lazuli,  white  conch-shell  and  turquois.  In  the  foreground  is  a  lotus- 
pond  with  three  flowers  widely  unfolded;  on  the  central  one  three  gems 
of  oblong  form  are  figured, —  lapis  lazuli,  turquois,  and  ruby,  emblematic 
of  the  well-known  prayer  formula  Om  mdni  padme  hum  ("Oh,  the  jewel 
in  the  lotus!")  and  of  the  three  precious  objects  (Sanskrit  triratna), 
which  are  Buddha,  his  doctrine,  and  the  clergy.  In  the  upper  portion 
of  the  same  painting,  two  of  the  Arhat  are  represented,  Angaja  and 
Vakula,  the  latter  holding  and  stroking  an  ichneumon  which  has  the 
ability  of  spitting  jewels;  they  are  gradually  dropping  into  a  plate.^ 
A  tribute-bearer  of  grotesque  racial  type  is  offering  to  the  saint  gems  in 
a  bowl  containing  an  ivory  tusk,  a  coral-branch,  and  precious  stones  of 
blue,  green,  rose  and  pink  colors.     This  is  not  the  only  Arhat  to  whom 

1  The  alms-bowl  (pdlra)  of  the  historical  Buddha  was  a  plain  pot;  the  miraculous 
relics  of  later  times  which  were  passed  oflE  as  Buddha's  alms-bowl  form  an  interesting 
subject  for  the  historical  mineralogy  of  the  East.  The  general  history  of  the  bowl 
or  bowls  has  been  traced  by  H.  Kern  (Manual  of  Indian  Buddhism,  p.  90)  and  H. 
Yule  (The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo,  Vol.  II,  pp.  328-330).  Here,  only  the  different 
materials  should  be  pointed  out.  Fa  Hien  who  started  for  India  in  399  saw  the  bowl 
in  Peshawur  (Purushapura)  and  describes  it  as  being  "of  various  colors,  black  pre- 
dominating, with  the  seams  that  show  its  fourfold  composition  distinctly  marked" 
(Legge,  Record  of  Buddhistic  Kingdoms,  p.  35).  The  latter  clause  in  Legg&'s 
rendering  does  not  seem  to  be  quite  correct;  but  however  this  may  be.  Fa  Hien's 
account,  it  seems  to  me,  bears  out  the  fact  that  the  bowl  seen  by  him  was  carved  from 
onyx  in  various  layers  in  the  style  of  cameo-work  (compare  G.  Watt,  /.  c.  Vol.  II, 
p.  174).  Hiian  Tsang  (St.  Julien,  M^moires  sur  les  contr^es  occidentales,  Vol.  I, 
p.  106;  S.  Beal,  Buddhist  Records  of  the  Western  World,  Vol.  I,  p.  99)  speaks  of  the 
pdtra,  but  does  not  furnish  a  description  of  it.  Li  Shi  of  the  T'ang  period  (not  of  the 
twelfth  century,  as  Wylie,  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature,  p.  192,  says),  in  his  Su  po 
wu  chi  (Ch.  10,  p.  2;  ed.  of  Hu-pei  tsung  whi  shu  chil),  makes  the  statement  that 
Buddha's  alms-bowl  in  Peshawur  was  of  blue  (or  green)  jade  {tsHng  yu),  or  in  the 
opinion  of  others  of  blue  (or green)  stone  {ts'ing shi) ;t\ienth.ete:i.t  of  Fa  Hien  is  repro- 
duced. In  view  of  the  ultramarine  color  in  which  the  Buddhist  alms-bowls  appear 
on  paintings  in  China  and  Tibet,  it  is  permissible  to  think  in  this  case  of  lapis  lazuli; 
indeed,  the  word  tsHng  shi,  in  this  sense,  is  used  in  the  Wei  lio  (Hirth,  China  and  the 
Roman  Orient,  p.  72).  A  still  earlier  reference  to  Buddha's  alms-bowl  in  the  coun- 
try of  the  Ta  Yiie-chi,  already  pointed  out  by  F.  Hirth  (Chinesische  Studien,  p.  251) 
is  contained  in  the  commentary  to  the  Shut  king  written  by  Li  Tao-yiian  who  died  in 
527  (his  biography  in  Pei  shi,  Ch.  27)  where  likewise  the  term  ts'ing  shi  is  employed, 
and  I  concur  with  Hirth  in  the  opinion  that  it  should  be  translated  in  this  case  by 
lapis  lazuli.  In  Tibetan  portrait-statues  of  bronze,  the  alms-bowl  is  often  actually 
represented  and  carved  from  lapis  lazuli  (A.  Grunwedel,  Mythologie  des  Buddhis- 
mus,  p.  79),  as  the  outcome  of  the  tradition  that  the  mendicant's  platter  brought 
from  Nepal  to  Tibet  by  the  princess  K'ri-btsun  in  the  seventh  century  and  working 
many  miracles  was  made  of  lapis  lazuli  (S.  Chandra  Das,  Narrative  of  a  Journey 
round  Lake  Yamdo,  p.  79,  Calcutta,  1887).  According  to  Marco  Polo  (Yule's 
edition.  Vol.  II,  p.  320)  the  dish  of  Buddha  brought  to  China  for  Emperor  Kubilai 
from  Ceylon  was  "of  a  very  beautiful  green  porphyry,"  while  Yule  quotes  a  Chinese 
account  written  in  1350  to  the  effect  that  the  sacred  bowl  in  front  of  the  image  of 
Buddha  in  Ceylon  was  neither  made  of  jade,  nor  copper,  nor  iron,  but  that  it  was  of  a 
purple  color,  glossy,  and  when  struck  sounding  like  glass. 

^  The  same  attribute  of  the  jewel-spitting  ichneumon  (Sanskrit  nakula)  appears 
in  the  hands  of  Kubera,  the  God  of  Wealth,  guarding  the  northern  side  of  the  world 
mountain  Sumeru. 


I 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  15 

precious  stones  are  offered,  but  it  is  the  case  also  with  many  others.  It 
is  interesting  that  these  tribute-bearers  are  usually  people  from  Central 
Asia  with  unmistakable  racial  features  and  appropriate  costume,  or 
even  turbaned  Mohammedans.  We  find  the  same  figures  also  on  the 
corresponding  Arhat  paintings  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  and  they 
are  doubtless  intended  to  express  the  important  role  which  Iranians, 
Ttirks  and  Arabs  have  played  in  transmitting  to  the  East  the  precious 
stones  of  western  Asia. 

In  the  marriage  ceremony  when  the  bridal  party  has  arrived  at  the 
gate  of  the  bridegroom's  house,  the  officiating  priest  recites  a  few 
benedictory  verses,  describing  the  house  of  the  bridegroom:  "May 
there  be  happiness  to  all  living  beings !  The  lintel  of  this  door  is  yellow, 
being  made  of  gold.  The  door  posts  are  cut  out  of  blocks  of  turquois. 
The  sill  is  made  of  silver.  The  door  frame  is  made  of  lapis  lazuli. 
Opening  this  auspicious  door,  you  find  in  it  the  repository  of  five  kinds 
of  precious  things.  Blessed  are  they  who  live  in  such  a  house.  "^  This 
is  certainly  an  ideal  or  poetical  description.  In  a  more  ancient  marital 
ceremony  described  in  the  Tibetan  dramatic  play  Nang-sa,  "the  tur- 
quois sparkling  in  rainbow  tints"  is  tied  to  the  end  of  an  arrow  adorned 
with  streamers  of  five-colored  silk  which  is  fastened  to  the  back  of  the 
bride  to  fix  the  marriage  tie.^  In  Ladakh,  the  bride  generally  receives, 
on  her  wedding  day,  many  of  the  turquoises  which  her  mother  had  worn.^ 

To  describe  all  objects  in  which  turquois  is  employed  would  mean  to 
survey  the  whole  range  of  Tibetan  ethnography,  which  is  certainly 
beyond  the  scope  of  these  notes.^  But  reference  should  be  made  to 
the  beautiful  Tibetan  swords  in  which  the  hilts  and  sheaths  worked  in 
repousse  gold  or  silver  are  inlaid  with  large  turquois  and  coral  beads. 
This  is  an  ancient  technique  practised  also  by  the  Turks  of  Central  Asia 
and  the  Persians.^ 

So  little  is  known  about  the  localities  in  Tibet  where  turquois  is 
found  that  there  have  even  been  authors  who  doubted  its  indigenous 
occurrence. 

1  S.  Chandra  Das,  Marriage  Customs  of  Tibet,  p.  12. 

2  L.  A.  Waddell,  Buddism  of  Tibet,  p.  557  (London,  1895). 
'  A.  H.  Francke,  Ladakhi  Songs,  p.  13. 

*  For  illustrations  see  Plates  I-V.  The  Field  Museum  possesses  a  rich  collection 
of  Tibetan,  Nepalese  and  Chinese  jewelry  which  will  give  occasion  at  some  future 
date  for  a  study  in  decorative  and  industrial  art.  The  Tibetan  process  of  covering 
a  gold  or  silver  foundation  with  a  mosaic  of  turquois  agrees  with  the  similar  technique 
practised  in  Siberia  during  the  bronze  age,  and  therefore  becomes  an  historical  factor 
of  great  importance. 

*  Compare  the  Sassanian  sword  reconstructed  by  J.  de  Morgan  (Mission 
scientifique  en  Perse,  Vol.  IV,  p.  321,  Paris,  1897)  the  shape  of  which  is  strikingly 
identical  with  the  Tibetan  sword. 


i6     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIIL 

A.  Campbell,  in  his  "Notes  on  Eastern  Tibet,"  ^  has  the  following 
remarks  in  regard  to  turquoises: 

"A  great  merchant  of  Tibet  named  Chongpo,  who  traded  ages  ago  with  India, 
and  once  crossed  the  seas  beyond  India,  brought  the  finest  real  turquois  to  his  native 
country.  From  that  time  the  stone  has  been  known  there,  and  like  coined  money, 
it  continues  to  circulate  in  the  country  as  a  medium  of  exchange.  The  imitations 
brought  from  China  are  made  of  common  earthen-colored  or  other  compositions. 
They  are  easily  detected.  Those  imported  via  Cashmere  are  real  stones,  but  not 
valuable.  The  only  test  of  a  real  stone  is  to  make  a  fowl  swallow  it;  if  real,  it  will  pass 
through  unchanged." 

This  tradition,  if  at  all  correct  and  not  rather  founded  on  a  misunder- 
standing, carries  little  weight.  The  word  Chongpo  is  not  a  Tibetan 
proper  name,  but  simply  denotes  "a  dealer,  a  trader."  There  is  no 
evidence  of  the  occurrence  of  turquoises  in  India  proper;  the  people  of 
India  became  acquainted  with  them  from  Persia  only  late  in  the  middle 
ages  through  Mohammedan  influence,  and  as  shown  above,  they  are 
first  mentioned  in  Sanskrit  literature  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth, 
possibly  also  in  the  thirteenth,  century.  Thus,  there  is  little  or  no 
plausibility  in  the  assumption  that  Itidia  could  have  given  the  impetus 
to  the  introduction  of  the  turquois  into  a  country  where  almost  every 
individual  is  in  possession  of  these  stones,  and  where  a  general  national 
passion  for  them  is  developed  among  all  people  high  and  low,  which 
can  have  been  but  cultivated  for  many  centuries  and  ages.  This  is 
corroborated  by  the  facts  of  language  and  history,  and  further  by  the 
evidence  of  localities  in  Tibet  where,  in  fact,  turquois  occurs  in  situ.  ' 

Marco  Polo,^  speaking  of  the  province  of  Caindu,  which  is  identical 
with  the  western  part  of  the  present  Chinese  province  of  Sze-ch'uan,  a 
territory  largely  inhabited  by  Tibetan  tribes,  mentions  besides  a  lake 
in  which  are  found  pearls,  also  a  mountain  in  that  country  "wherein 
they  find  a  kind  of  stone  called  turquoise,  in  great  abundance,  and  it  is 
a  very  beautiful  stone.  These  also  [in  the  same  way  as  the  fishing  of  the 
pearls]  the  Emperor  does  not  allow  to  be  extracted  without  his  special 
order."  Yule  remarks  that  Chinese  authorities  quoted  by  Ritter 
mention  mother-o' -pearl  as  a  product  of  Lithang,  and  speak  of  tur- 
quoises as  found  in  Djaya  (or  Draya)  to  the  west  of  Bathang.  This 
latter  notice  is  quite  correct  and  furnished  by  several  Chinese  authors 
who  have  visited  Tibet  and  written  on  the  subject.^  They  further 
mention  Ch'amdo,  that  is,  not  only  the  small  town  in  Eastern  Tibet  so 

'  The  Phoenix,  ed.  by  J.  Summers,  Vol.  I,  p.  143  (London,  1870). 

2  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo,  ed.  by  Yule  and  Cordier,  3d  ed..  Vol.  II,  p.  53 
(London,  1903). 

^  W.  W.  RocKHiLL,  Tibet  from  Chinese  Sources  {Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society, 
VoL  XXIII,  1891,  p.  272). 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  17 

called,  but  the  whole  district  in  which  it  is  situated,  and  the  territory  of 
the  capital  Lhasa  as  places  for  the  production  of  turquois;  this  locality 
seems  to  be  particularly  rich  in  this  respect,  and  we  have  seen  that  the 
largest  turquois  of  his  time  was  discovered  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
century  by  a  Tibetan  king  on  a  hill  north  of  Lhasa. 

I  have  searched  through  the  Chinese  Annals  of  the  Mongol  or  Yuan 
Dynasty  (Yiian  shi)  for  a  confirmation  of  Marco  Polo's  report  regarding 
the  imperial  turquois  monopoly.  Though  my  efforts  have  not  as  yet 
"been  crowned  with  success,  I  do  not  give  up  the  hope  that  such  an 
account  will  be  discovered  in  the  future  either  in  this  or  in  some  of  the 
other  Chinese  works  treating  of  the  history  of  the  Mongol  period.  The 
turquois,  however,  is  repeatedly  alluded  to  in  the  Yiian  shi,  as  we  shall 
note  hereafter.^ 

The  first  European  author  to  report  the  indigenous  occurrence 
of  turquois  in  Tibet  proper,  as  far  as  I  know,  is  the  Capuchin  Friar 
Francesco  Orazio  della  Penna  di  Billi  in  his  "Breve  Notizia  del 
Regno  del  Thibet"  written  in  1730.^ 

According  to  Sarat  Chandra  Das,^  the  finest  turquoises  are  ob- 
tained from  a  mine  of  the  Gangs-chan  mountains  of  Ngari-Khorsum 

1  For  the  rest,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  Marco  Polo's  state- 
ment. Th6  turquois  monopoly  was  the  outcome  and  a  part  of  all  other  exclusive 
prerogatives  of  the  emperor  extending  to  all  precious  metals  and  stones  (compare  in 
particular  Marco  Polo,  Vol.  I,  p.  424).  This  monopoly  of  the  Mongols  forms  a 
counterpart  to  the  turquois  monopoly  of  the  Persian  Shahs  related  by  J.  B.  Ta ver- 
nier (ed.  V.  Ball,  Vol.  II,  p.  104):  "For  many  years  the  king  of  Persia  has  pro- 
hibited mining  in  the  '  old  rock '  for  any  one  but  himself,  because  having  no  gold  work- 
ers in  the  country  besides  those  who  work  in  thread,  who  are  ignorant  of  the  art  of 
enamelling  on  gold,  and  without  knowledge  of  design  and  engraving,  he  uses  for  the 
decoration  of  swords,  daggers,  and  other  work,  these  turquoises  of  the  old  rock  in- 
stead of  enamel,  which  are  cut  and  arranged  in  patterns  like  flowers  and  other  figures 
which  the  jewelers  make.  This  catches  the  eye  and  passes  as  a  laborious  work,  but 
it  is  wanting  in  design."  According  to  the  opinion  of  the  Persian  General  C.  Hou- 
TUM  ScHiNDLER  who  about  1880  was  for  some  time  governor  of  the  mining  district 
and  acting  manager  of  the  mines,  operations  were  probably  carried  on  by  the  Persian 
Government  up  to  1725  (M.  Bauer,  Precious  Stones,  p.  394).  On  Schindler's  work 
see  p.  42, 

*  First  edited  by  J.  Klaproth  in  the  Nouveau  Journal  asiatique,  1835  (the  passage 
referred  to  on  p.  32  of  the  separate  issue:  "pietre  turchine").  English  translation  in 
C.  R.  Markham,  Narratives  of  the  Mission  of  George  Bogle  to  Tibet  etc.,  p.  317, 
(London,  1876).  I  may  be  allowed  to  point  out  that  the  word  "cobalt"  in  the 
English  version,  preceding  the  turquois  stones,  is  based  on  a  mistranslation  of 
Orazio's  azurro  (present  spelling  azzurro)  which  is  lapis  lazuli.  Indeed,  this  Italian 
word  is  traced  to  the  Persian  and  Arabic  names  of  lapis  lazuli,  lazvard  and  Idzuward. 
We  know  that  this  mineral  is  found  in  several  localities  of  eastern  Tibet  (Lho-rong 
Dzong  and  Kung-pu  Chiang-ta)  and  in  the  district  of  Lhasa  (Rockhill,  Journal 
Royal  Asiatic  Society,  Vol.  XXIII,  1891,  pp.  272-4,  and  Timkowski,  Reise  nach 
China  durch  die  Mongolei,  Vol.  II,  pp.  188,  189,  Leipzig,  1826),  but  it  may  be 
doubted  that  cobalt  occurs  in  Tibet  (though  it  may  be  found  in  Sikkim,  as  stated  by 
J.  C.  White,  Sikhim  and  Bhutan,  p.  322,  London,  1909). 

*  Tibetan-English  Dictionary,  p.  1152. 


i8     Field  Museum  or  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

(West  Tibet). ^     This  is  also  corroborated  by  the  historical  fact  that 
the  kings  of  Ladakh  received  a  tribute  of  turquoises  from  Guge.^ 

From  my  own  experience  I  may  say  that  according  to  information 
received  in  Tibet  turquois  occurs  in  several  mountains  of  the  great 
State  of  Derge  in  eastern  Tibet,  though  my  Tibetan  informants  were 
unable  to  state  the  exact  localities  (or,  which  is  more  probable,  did  not 
want  to  state  them).  At  any  rate,  the  fact  cannot  be  called  into  doubt, 
for  in  Derge,  celebrated  for  the  high  development  of  art -industries  and 
its  clever  craftsmen,  also  fine  carvings  of  turquois  are  turned  out, 
of  which  several  specimens  were  secured  by  me  that  exhibit  a  peculiar, 
very  pleasing,  soft  apple-green  tinge  differing  from  any  other  kind  met 
in  Tibet  and  China,  and  seemingly  coming  nearer  to  the  Mexican 
variety.  It  seems  also  that  in  the  mountains  to  the  north  of  Ta-tsien-lu 
in  western  Sze-ch'uan  a  turquois  of  inferior  quality  and  a  sickly  green  is 
obtained;  it  is,  however,  so  poor  and  insignificant  that  the  Chinese 
traders  there  accustomed  to  the  brilliant  blue  of  their  home  product  look 
down  upon  it  as  spurious.  A  great  many  of  these  greenish  stones  are 
utilized  in  a  large  collection  of  Tibetan  silver  jewelry  brought  together 
by  me  in  that  town.  ■  I  was  first  inclined  to  accept  the  opinion  of  the 
Chinese  consulted  by  me,  and  to  regard. these  stones  as  imitations,  but 
Dr.  Joseph  E.  Pogue  to  whom  I  sent  three  specimens  for  examination 
convinced  me  that  this  opinion  was  unfounded.     He  writes  as  follows : 

"The  three  specimens  give  the  following  specific  gravities  (theoretical  for  tur- 
quois is  2.6 — 2.83): 

1 .  Small  dark-green  specimen 2.71 

2.  Small  light-green  specimen 2.81 

3.  Larger  perforated  green  specimen 2 .  68 

All  three  specimens  are  phosphates,  giving  good  tests.  Washed  with  strong 
ammonia,  they  did  not  lose  their  color,  as  most  artificially  colored  turquoises  will  do 
when  so  treated.  The  specimens  reacted  characteristically  when  heated;  and  when 
viewed  under  the  microscope,  one  contains  a  little  granular  quartz  attached  to  its 
edge." 

Captain  C.  G.  Rawling  ^  gives  the  following  summary  as  the  result 
of  his  inquiry  about  the  occurrence  of  turquois  in  Tibet : 

' '  The  rough  stones  are  bought  at  the  fairs  held  in  the  country  and  conveyed  by 
the  Indian  merchants  to  Amritsar  and  Delhi,  where  they  are  mounted  in  gold  and 
silver,  and  afterwards  reimported.  Practically  every  matrix  originally  comes  from 
Tibet,  but  though  inquiries  were  made  at  all  the  more  important  places,  no  informa- 
tion could  be  obtained  as  to  the  situation  of  the  mines.     The  Phari  people  obtain  their 

1  That  is,  the  three  districts  of  Ngari  comprising'the  territories  of  Rutok,  Guge, 
and  Purang.     Gangs-chan  means  the  glacier-mountains. 

2  ScHLAGiNTWEiT,  Die  Konige  von  Tibet,  p.  862. 
^  The  Great  Plateau,  p.  294  (London,  1905). 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  19 

supply  from  Calcutta,  Shigatse  from  Lhasa,  whilst  at  many  other  places  the  people 
merely  said  that  they  did  not  know  where  the  stones  came  from,  that  they  had  had 
theirs  for  years,  and  that  none  were  to  be  found  in  their  district  or  anywhere  near. 
X)espite  these  unsatisfactory  answers,  the  consensus  of  opinion  leads  one  to  believe 
that  they  exist  in  the  greatest  numbers  in  the  country  situated  between  Lhasa  and 
the  western  border  of  China." 

I  am  somewhat  doubtful  in  regard  to  Rawling's  point  that  Tibetan 
turquoises  are  worked  up  in  India  and  find  their  way  back  into  Tibet. 
I  am  rather  under  the  impression  that  the  reverse  is  the  case,  as  already 
stated  by  George  C.  M.  Birdwood  ^  that  a  good  deal  of  Tibetan 
jewelry  is  imported  into  India  through  Bhutan,  Sikkim,  Nepal,  and 
Cashmir,  chiefly  in  silver  —  ornamented  with  large,  crude  turquoises, 
and  sometimes  with  coral  —  in  the  shape  of  armlets,  and  necklaces, 
consisting  of  amulet  boxes,  strung  on  twisted  red  cloth,  or  a  silver  chain, 
and  in  various  other  forms,  such  as  bracelets,  anklets,  etc.,  hammered, 
cut,  and  filigrained. 

I  have  carefully  gone  over  four  volumes  of  the  Trade  Statistics  of 
the  Government  of  Bengal.^  Turquois  is  not  specified  in  these  columns ; 
it  cannot,  therefore,  claim  a  big  share  in  the  trade  between  Bengal  and 
Tibet.  There  is,  however,  a  general  item:  Jewelry,  and  Precious 
Stones  and  Pearls.  Jewelry  was  imported  into  Bengal  from  Tibet  in 
1906-7  at  the  value  of  56  Rupees,  precious  stones  and  pearls,  unset, 
at  the  value  of  2,923  Rupees.  The  export  of  the  latter  from  Bengal 
into  Tibet  for  the  same  year  amounted  to  27,329  Rupees,  in  the  pre- 
ceding year,  1905-6,  to  32,112  Rupees,  in  1904-5,  to  only  12,460  Rupees 
(probably  owing  to  Younghusband's  expedition).  I  do  not  know  how 
large  a  share  is  due  to  turquois  in  these  figures.' 

OsvALDO  RoERO  ^  givcs  a  list  of  merchandise  imported  into  Ladakh 
from  the  official  register  kept  by  the  customs  of  Leh,  the  capital  of 
Ladakh.  Among  the  products  there  enumerated  he  enlists  turquoises 
as  coming  from  Persia  by  way  of  Bokhara,  the  best  and  most  valuable 
coming  from  Seistan.  The  same  view  that  turquoises  are  imported 
into  Ladakh  from  Persia  through  Bokhara  had  previously  been  upheld 
by  Alexander  Cunningham.^     H.  Ramsay  ^  enumerates  three  classes 

'  1  The  Industrial  Arts  of  India,  Vol.  II,  p.  28. 

^  The  Trade  of  Bengal  with  Nepal,  Tibet,  Sikkim,  and  Bhutan.  Last  volume 
published,  Calcutta,  1907. 

'  There  is  a  pretty  lively  trade  in  turquoises  on  the  part  of  Tibetans  in  Darjeeling; 
the  stones  sold  there  come  from  Tibet  and  China  (via  Tibet).  In  most  cases  it  is 
possible  to  discriminate  between  turquoises  of  Tibetan  and  Chinese  origin. 

*  Ricordi  dei  viaggi  al  Cashemir,  Piccolo  e  Medio  Tibet  e  Turkestan,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  72  (Torino,  1881). 

*  Ladak,  p.  242  (London,  1854).  Also  in  Gilgit  the  turquois  is  employed  (J. 
BiDDULPH,  Tribes  of  the  Hindoo  Kush,  p.  74,  Calcutta,  1880). 

*  Western  Tibet:   A  Practical  Dictionary,  p.  162  (Lahore,  1890). 


20     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

of  good  turquoises  which  are  free  from  flaws  and  with  very  Httle  green, 
while  inferior  kinds  are  known  as  "Tibetan"  and  "Chinese  turquoises," 
which  come  to  Ladakh  from  Lhasa  or  China;  they  are  full  of  flaws  and 
generally  very  green.  The  latter  remark  holds  good  only  for  Tibetan 
stones,  as  the  Chinese  are  usually  azure-blue.  "The  best  turquoises," 
concludes  Ramsay,  "come  up  from  India.  Ladakhis  object  to  flaws, 
but  they  like  a  little  green,  as  they  consider  it  a  sort  of  guarantee  that 
the  turquois  has  not  been  manufactured." 

In  the  following  notes  on  China  it  will  be  seen  that  large  quantities 
of  turquoises  cut  into  stones  or  beads  and  worked  into  carved  objects 
are  imported  nowadays  from  China  into  Tibet ;  they  are  largely  used  by 
Chinese  traders  for  purposes  of  barter  with  the  Tibetans.  * 

III.  Turquois  in  China 

The  turquois,  though  found  at  present  in  central  China  in  situ  and 
commercially  exploited  by  Chinese  traders  for  export  trade  into  Tibet 
and  Mongolia,  is  not  generally  known  to  the  Chinese  people,  for  the 
apparent  reason  that  it  is  but  little  employed  by  them  and  plays  no 
■  significant  part  in  their  life.^  Outside  of  Peking  and  Si-ngan  fu,  where 
the  trade  is  monopolized  by  a  few  of  the  initiated,  the  stone  is  hardly 
familiar  to  the  people  at  large,  nor  to  the  educated  classes;  in  Shanghai, 
Hankow,  and  Canton,  it  is  entirely  unknown.  This  is  glaringly  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  commission  engaged  in  working  up 
the  "English  and  Chinese  Standard  Dictionary,"  published  by  the 
Shanghai  Commercial  Press,  in  1908,  is  not  even  acquainted  with  their 
own  Chinese  name  for  the  stone,  and  speaks  of  it  as  a  substance  entirely 
foreign  to  their  country;  their  definition  of  turquois  (Vol.  II,  p.  2442)  is 
"a  Persian  gem  of  a  greenish-blue  color,  etc.,  first  known  to  Europe 
through  Turkey,"  and  the  same  translated  literally  into  Chinese, 
without  giving  the  proper  Chinese  term  for  the  stone.  Traders  who  have 
come  in  contact  with  Tibetans  or  Mongols  or  even  settled  among  these 
peoples  are  certainly  acquainted  with  it,  and  may  even  be  induced  to 
wear  a  turquois  button,  but  a  "barbarous"  odor  is  always  attached  to 
it,  and  it  seldom  enters  the  ornaments  of  a  self-respecting  Chinese 
woman. 

Besides  the  Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill,  S.  Wells  Williams  ^  seems  to 
be  the  only  author  to  mention  turquoises  as  known  to  the  Chinese. 
It  is  somewhat  hard  to  understand  how  other  careful  observers  could 

1  It  follows  therefrom  that  the  knowledge  of  the  turquois  in  China  cannot  be  very 
old,  and  this  conclusion  will  be  confirmed  by  our  historical  inquiry. 

2  The  Middle  Kingdom,  Vol.  I,  p.  310  (New  York,  1901). 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  21 

have  overlooked  its  presence.  F.  v.  Richthofen,^  who  gives  a  fairly 
complete  summary  of  the  commerce  of  Si-ngan  fu  does  not  mention  it, 
nor  does  he  notice  it  in  his  enumeration  of  goods  traded  from  China  to 
Tibet  (p.  133).  As  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  handbook  on  mineralogy  or 
precious  stones  makes  any  reference  to  the  Chinese  turquois;  it  is  not 
noted  either  by  F.  de  Mely  in  his  otherwise  very  complete  work  "Les 
lapidaires  chinois." 

The  present  Chinese  name  for  turquois  is  lu  sung  shi,  that  is,  "green 
fir-tree  stone,"  or  sung  erh  shi  ^  (also  sung-tse  shi)  that  is,  fir-cone  stone. 
This  name  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  designation  sung  shi, 
"fir-tree  stone,"  which  is  not  a  stone,  but  by  which  petrified  pieces  of 
the  fir-tree  are  understood;  these  are  also  called  sung  hua  shi,  "fir-tree 
transmutation  stones,"  but  their  very  color  description  as  being  yellow 
or  purple  shows  sufficiently  that  they  are  entirely  distinct  from  turquois. 
It  will,  however,  be  useful  to  consider  briefly  what  Chinese  authors  have 
to  say  in  regard  to  these  petrefacts,  because  from  these  statements  we 
shall  gain  a  clue  to  the  understanding  of  their  name  for  turquois. 

The  earliest  trustworthy  mention  of  such  petrefacts  of  vegetal 
origin  is  made  in  the  "Annals  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty"  (618-906  a.  d.; 
T'ang  shu,  Ch.  217  b,  p.  5)  compiled  from  the  records  of  the  dynasty  by 
Ngou-yang  Siu  (1007-1072)  and  Simg  K'i  (998-1061)  ^  and  completed 
in  1060.  This  notice  embodied  in  the  chapter  on  the  Uigur  (Hui-hu) 
relates  to  Central  Asia,  more  particularly  to  the  region  inhabited  by  the 
tribe  Bayirku  (Pa-ye-ku),*  and  runs  as  follows: 

"The  country  is  grassy  and  produces  noble  horses  and  fine  iron.  There  is  a  river 
called  K'ang-kan.  The  people  cut  up  fir-trees  and  throw  the  pieces  into  the  water. 
In  the  course  of  three  years  these  alter  into  blue-colored  stone,  in  which  the  marks  of 

1  Letters,  p.  108. 

*  In  the  Cantonese  dialect  luk  ts'ung  shek  and  ts'ung  i  shek,  respectively.  The 
words  with  this  meaning  will  be  found  in  the  Chinese-English  Dictionaries  of  Eitel 
and  Giles,  and  in  the  Chinese-Russian  Dictionary  of  Palladius;  Couvreur  and 
others  do  not  give  them.  The  translation  by  turquois  is  confirmed  by  the  Great 
Imperial  Dictionary  in  Four  Languages,  which  has  the  series:  Chinese  lii  sung  shi, 
corresponding  to  Manchu  uyu,  Tibetan  gyu,  and  Mongol  ugyu,  all  of  which  refer  to 
the  turquois.  In  a  description  of  Tibet  {Wei  ts'ang  t'u  chi  by  Lu  Hua-chu,  published 
in  1785)  occurs  also  the  expression  sung  jut  (No.  5723)  shi,  "stone  of  fir-tree  buds." 
The  German-Chinese  Dictionary  published  by  the  Catholic  Missionaries  of  South- 
Shantung  (p.  916,  Yen-chou  fu,  1906)  gives  for  turquois  the  word  la  se  shi,  "green- 
colored  stone."  G.  Schlegel  (Nederlandsch-chineesch  woordenboek,  Vol.  IV, 
p.  232,  Leiden,  1890),  besides  the  common  sung  irh  shi,  registers  for  "turkoois"  the 
word  tsHng  yii,  that  is,  blue  or  green  jade.  This  must  be  an  artificial  modem  forma- 
tion, or  rather  an  error,  as  the  Chinese  have  never  ranged  turquois  among  jade  but 
solely  among  ordinary  stone,  on  which  more  will  be  said  farther  on. 

'  Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  pp.  606,  698. 

*  Chavannes,  Documents  sur  les  Tou-kiue  (Turcs)  occidentaux,  p.  88 
(St.  Petersburg,  1903). 


22     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

the  wood  are  still  preserved  in  delicate  outlines.     It  is  generally  called  K'ang-kan 
stone."' 

In  767  A.  D.  the  painter  Pi  Hung  is  said  to  have  executed  a  wall- 
painting  on  which  fossil  fir-trees  were  depicted,  evoking  poetical  eulogies 
on  the  part  of  admirers.^ 

The  Taoists,  with  their  interest  in  the  beauties  and  wonders  of 
nature,  could  not  fail  to  seize  this  attractive  subject,  and  to  interpret 
the  phenomenon.  The  Lu  i  ki  (Ko  chi  king  yiian,  Ch.  7, p.  6),  a  fabulous 
book  by  theTaoist  monk  Tu  Kuang-t'ing  of  the  tenth  century,'  reports: 

*'  In  a  pavilion  on  a  mountain  in  Yung-k'ang  hien  in  Wu  chou  (the  modern  Kin- 
hua  fu  in  Ch6-kiang  Province)  there  are  rotten  fir-trees.  If  you  break  a  piece  oflF, 
you  will  find  that  it  is  not  decayed  in  the  water  but  a  substance  altered  into  stone 
which  previously  was  not  yet  transformed  in  that  manner.  On  examining  the  pieces 
in  the  water,  they  turn  out  to  be  transformations  of  the  same  character.  These 
metamorphoses  do  not  differ  from  fir-trees  as  to  branches  and  bark;  only  they  are 
very  hard."* 

1  Compare  d'Herbelot,  BibliothSque  orientale,  Vol.  IV,  p.  165  (La  Haye,  1779). 
The  Chinese  cyclopasdias  quote  this  passage  very  inaccurately  and  with  arbitrary 
changes.  Ko  chi  king  yiian  (Ch.  7,  p.  6),  for  example,  writes  the  name  of  the  river 
K'ang-tse,  omits  a  whole  sentence  and  adds  at  the  end:  "The  stone  has  the  designs 
of  a  fir-tree." 

2  P'ei  wen  yiinfu,  Ch.  100  A,  p.  21  b. 

^  Compare  Wylie  (Notes  on  Chinese  Literature,  p.  200)  who  dates  this  author  in 
the  tenth  century  (likewise  p.  221).  The  Lu  i  ki  has  been  adopted  into  the  Taoist 
Canon  (L.  Wieger,  Le  canon  taoiste,  p.  iii.  No.  586);  Dr.  Wieger,  however,  places 
the  work  and  the  author  in  the  ninth  century.  M.  Paul  Pelliot  {Journal  asiatique, 
1912,  Juillet-Aotlt,  p.  149)  fortunately  sheds  light  on  the  matter  by  informing  us  that 
Tu  Kuang-t'ing  lived  toward  the  close  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  and  that  all  his  works 
come  down  from  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century.  Bretschneider  {Botanicon 
Sinicum,  pt.  i,  p.  172,  No.  492)  states  that  a  work  with  the  title  Lu  i  ki  must  have 
been  extant  in  the  sixth  century,  as  it  is  quoted  in  a  book  of  that  time;  but  it  seems 
not  to  be  known  whether  the  work  there  referred  to  is  really  identical  with  the  Lu  i  ki 
of  Tu  Kuang-t'ing.  When  Wylie  points  out  that  the  productions  of  this  author 
have  forfeited  all  claim  to  authenticity,  this  is  certainly  correct  as  regards  their 
historical  value.  He  must  not  be  judged,  however,  in  this  light,  but  should  be 
appreciated  as  a  Taoist  recluse  and  dreamer  who  reveals  to  us  interesting  phases  of 
Taoist  psychology  by  describing  visions  of  dragons,  tigers,  tortoises,  serpents  and 
fishes,  or  relates  extraordinary  dreams  and  strange  phenomena  happening  near  the 
graveyards,  who  now  records  the  principal  hills  and  lakes  of  the  empire  famous  as 
retreats  of  Taoist  devotees,  now  tells  the  story  of  the  Wu-i  Mountain  of  Fu-kien 
renowned  for  its  plantations  of  tea. 

*  The  Po  wu  chi,  a  work  by  Chang  Hua  (232-300  A.  d.)  says:  "The  root  of  the 
fir-tree  partakes  of  the  nature  of  stone;  stones,  when  cracked,  are  dissolved  into  sand 
and  produce  a  fir-tree;  and  a  fir-tree,  when  reaching  three  thousand  years,  again 
alters  into  stone."  The  Po  wu  chi  was  lost  during  the  Sung  period  and  compiled  at 
a  later  date  from  extracts  embodied  in  other  publications  (Wylie,  Notes,  p.  192); 
there  is,  consequently,  no  guaranty  that  any  text  of  this  work,  as  preserved  in  the 
present  editions,  really  goes  back  to  the  third  century. — The  above  subject  has  also  an 
interesting  bearing  on  the  Chinese  knowledge  of  fossils,  which  should  be  treated  some 
day  in  a  coherent  essay.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  information  on  dragon  bones  and 
teeth  originating  from  fossil  hipparion  and  rhinoceros,  petrified  fishes,  crabs,  and 
swallows,  all  procurable  in  the  Chinese  drug-stores.  There  are  similar  accounts 
among  the  Arabs  (M.  Reinaud,  Relation  des  voyages  faits  par  les  Arabes,  Vol.  I, 
p.  2 1 ;  P.  A.  VAN  der  Lith,  Livre  des  merveilles  de  I'lnde,  p.  1 7 1 ) ,  and  the  palaeontologi- 


July,  1913.  •        Notes  on  Turquois.  23 

In  regard  to  these  petrefacts  of  Yung-k"ang,  another  interesting 
note  is  given  by  Tu  Wan  or  Tu  Ki-yang  in  his  Treatise  on  Stones, 
entitled  Yiin  lin  shi  p'n  (Ch.  b,  p.  3)  published  in  the  year  1133  (Sung 
period),  the  oldest  Chinese  lapidarium  extant.'  This  author  speaks  of 
a  poet  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  Lu  Kuei-meng,^  who  had  obtained  a  pillow 
and  a  lute  of  stone,  and  left  two  poems  on  these  objects.  In  the  intro- 
duction to  the  poems,  he  mentions  the  fir-trees  of  Yung-k'ang  which 
from  old  age  had  turned  into  stones,  and  that  one  evening,  as  the 
effect  of  a  big  rainstorm,  a  whole  fir-tree  grove  on  the  mountains  sudden- 
ly changed  into  stone,  and  fell  to  the  ground,  smashed  into  pieces  from 
two  to  three  feet  in  diameter,  and  these  are  still  there;  the  natives  of 
the  place,  then,  carried  such  pieces  away  and  worked  them  up  into 
footstools,  some  as  small  as  a  fist,  or  into  low  tables  by  breaking  the 
larger  pieces. 

Another  author,  Chang  Lu-i,  states  that  "there  are  two  varieties  of 
these  stones  produced  by  transformation  of  fir-trees,  one  of  yellow,  and 
one  of  purple  color,  of  very  fine  substance  and  shape,  with  water  marks 
on  the  surface,  some  also  with  marks  of  the  tree  bark,  others  with  marks 
of  the  tree  knots,  such  as  occur  on  the  T'ien-t'ai  mountains  (in  T'ai-chou 
fu,  Che-kiang).  There  are  those  the  transmutation  of  which  is  not 
complete,  but  which  still  bear  the  fir-tree  substance;  these  are  useful 
as  medicine.  If  those  perfectly  transformed  are  taken  as  medicine, 
they  have  the  effect  upon  man  that  he  forgets  passion  and  stops  longing; 
this  medicine  cures  love-sickness;  if  men  or  women  who  are  unhappily 
in  love  partake  of  it,  they  will  intercept  their  thoughts  and  not  remember 
again."  This  is  certainly  a  sympathetic  remedy;  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  tree  has  lost  its  life  and  changed  into  a  lifeless  mass  of  stone,  so  it 
has  the  effect  on  the  human  heart  to  make  it  forget,  and  to  render  it 
cold  and  old  like  stone. 

cal  knowledge  of  the  ancients  has  been  treated  by  E.  v.  Lasaulx,  Die  Geologie  der 
Griechen  und  Romer,  pp.  6-16  {Abhandlungen  der  bayerischen  Akademie,  Munchen, 
1851). 

^  It  is  reprinted  in  the  enormous  collection  Chi  pu  tsu  tsai  ts'ung  shu,  Section  28; 
also  in  T'ang  Sung  ts'ung  shu.  This  work  is  widely  different  from  the  class  of  books 
styled  pin  ts'ao,  in  which  the  therapeutic  value  of  the  substances  occurring  in  nature 
forms  the  principal  point  of  view.  The  book  of  Tu  Wan  is  written  from  the  stand- 
point of  economic  geography.  The  minerals  are  all  named  for  the  localities  from 
which  they  originate,  and  the  author  is  chiefly  interested  in  their  industrial  utiliza- 
tion. This  feature  lends  his  notes  a  practical  value,  and  a  complete  translation  of 
them,  aside  from  the  purely  scientific  interest,  might  yield  also  results  for  the  study  of 
economic  mineralogy  in  China. 

^  He  is  known  as  the  author  of  the  Siao  ming  lu  (Wylie,  Notes  on  Chinese  Litera- 
ture, p.  182)  and  of  a  small  treatise  on  the  plough  (ibid.,  p.  93,  and  O.  Franke,  K^ng 
Tschi  T'u,  p.  45,  Hamburg,  1913).  Bretschneider  (/.  c,  p.  172,  No.  493)  mentions 
a  work  Poems  of  Lu  Kuei-mSng  as  cited  in  T'ang  shu,  Ch.  196.  The  Collection  of  his 
Poems  (shitsi)  is  quoted  in  Kao  chaiman  lu  (Ch.  i,  p.  i;  Shou  shan  ko  ts'ung  shu, 
Vol.  91). 


24     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

Also  the  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu  (Section  on  Stones,  Ch.  g,  p.  14)  of  Li 
Shi-chen,  the  Chinese  standard  work  on  materia  medica  and  natural 
history  completed  in  1578  after  26  years'  labor/  mentions  the  'fir-tree 
stone '  (sung  shi)  after  Su  Sung,  an  author  of  the  Sung  period,  as  being 
produced  in  Ch'u-chou  fu  (Che-kiang  Province)  and  being  like  the 
trunk  of  a  fir-tree  but  solid  stone.  According  to  the  opinion  of  some,  it 
is  fir-tree  which  has  changed  into  stone  after  a  long  time ;  it  is  gathered  a 
great  deal  on  the  mountains,  and  is  made  into  pillows.^ 

It  seems  to  me  that  similar  notions  have  been  active  in  inducing  the 
Chinese  to  confer  on  the  turquois  the  name  "green  fir-tree  stone," 
because  they  looked  upon  it  as  a  transformation  from  the  fir-tree. 
This  may  be  inferred  as  a  plausible  explanation,  for  as  far  as  I  know, 
there  are  no  definitions  of  the  name  in  Chinese  literature;  the  word 
lil  sung  shi  can  be  traced  only  to  the  eighteenth  century  (see  p.  60). 

A  modem  author,  Chung  Kia-fu,  in  his  collected  works  (Ch'un  ts'ao 
fang  ts'ung  shu,  1845,  ^h.  29,  p.  19)  has  developed  a  peculiar  view  on 
the  origin  of  turquois  which  he  places  in  the  same  category  as  amber: 

"When  the  moss  growing  on  rock  after  many  years  consoHdates  and  assumes 
color,  turquoises  arise,  those  of  a  deep  hue  being  called  lii  sung,  those  light  in  color 
sung  erh  ('fir-tree  ears').  This  is  the  same  process  as  takes  place  with  respect  to 
fir-tree  resin  which  after  many  years  consolidates  and  develops  into  amber,  that  of  a 
deep  shade  being  called  hu-p'o,  that  light  in  color  being  called  bees'-wax  (mi-la). ^ 

^  The  literary  history  of  this  interesting  work,  first  printed  in  1596,  has  been  traced 
by  Bretschneider,  Botanicon  Sinicum,  pt.  i,  p.  55.  Despite  many  efforts  I  have 
not  succeeded  in  procuring  the  original  edition  which  seems  to  be  entirely  lost  and 
not  now  to  exist  in  any  Chinese  library.  Bretschneider  states  that  the  earliest  edi- 
tion extant  seems  to  be  that  of  1658;  but  a  print  of  1645  in  16  vols.,  edited  by  Ni 
Tun-yii  of  Hang-chou,  was  secured  by  me  in  Tokyo,  now  in  the  John  Crerar  Library 
of  Chicago,  which,  besides,  has  an  edition  of  1826  in  39  volumes,  and  one  issued  in 
1885  in  40  volumes,  the  best  print  in  existence.  An  excellent  photo-lithographic 
reprint  was  published  in  1908  by  the  firm  Tsi  ch'eng  t'u  shu  of  Shanghai  after  an  edi- 
tion of  1657  by  Chang  Ch'ao-lin.  The  text  in  the  Shun-chi  editions  is  more  accurate 
than  in  the  K'ien-lung  and  Tao-kuang  editions.  Prof.  Hirth  {Journal  China  Branch 
Royal  As.  Sac,  Vol.  XXI,  1886,  p.  324)  mentions  a  Ming  edition  printed  in  1603, 
possibly  the  second  edition  published. 

^  A.  Wylie  (in  his  treatise  Asbestos  in  China:  Chinese  Researches  III,  p.  152, 
Shanghai,  1897)  quotes  from  the  T'u  king:  "Among  the  hills  at  Ch'u  chou  (in  ChS- 
kiang  Province)  a  species  of  pine  stone  is  produced,  resembling  the  trunk  of  the  pine, 
but  in  reality  a  stone ;  some  say  that  the  pine  in  the  course  of  time  becomes  changed 
into  stone.  Many  people  take  it  to  decorate  their  mountain  lodges,  and  also  shape 
it  into  pillows."  This  passage  is  evidently  taken  from  the  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  the 
abbreviated  title  T'u  king  being  identical  with  the  T'u  king  pen  ts'ao  of  Su  Sung. 
Compare  also  F.  de  M£ly  (Les  lapidaires  chinois,  p.  86,  Paris,  1896)  where  the  trans- 
lation "pour  representer  des  tranches  d'arbres"  should  read  "to  represent  pillows." 
On  p.  208  DE  M6ly  cites  an  interesting  note  from  de  Rosny,  according  to  which  a 
fossil  pine-tree  was  found  in  Japan  in  1 806. 

^  Mi-la  is  the  designation  for  a  light -yellow  kind  of  amber  in  which  presumably 
also  copal  and  artificial  productions  occur.  The  Imperial  Geography  of  the  Manchu 
Dynasty  {Ta  Ts'ing  i  t'ung  chi,  Ch.  274)  ascribes  its  production  to  Shi-nan  fu  in 
Hu-pei  Province,  but  in  another  passage  connects  its  introduction  with  the  Hol- 
landers.    Other  Chinese  authors  derive  the  origin  of  mi-la  from  Yiin-nan  Province 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  25 

I  once  received  a  water-receptacle  to  wash  writing-brushes  in,  made  from  turquois, 
of  the  size  of  a  dish,  in  the  shape  of  lotus-leaves,  and  onion-green  and  kingfisher-blue 
in  color." 

In  the  Annals  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty  (T'ang  shu),  there  is  a  curious 
word  se-se  (No.  9599)  occurring  in  several  passages  and  assumed  by 
HiRTH  and  Chavannes  to  have  the  meaning  of  turquois.  The  one  is 
met  with  in  Ch.  221  b,  p.  2  b,  in  an  account  of  Sogdiana,  but  relating  to 
the  region  of  Ferghana,  where  it  is  said : 

"North-east  from  the  capital  (modern  Tashkend),  there  are  the  Western  Turks, 
north-west  P'o-la;  200  li  south  one  comes  to  Khojend,  500  It  south-west  to  K'ang 
(that  is,  Sogdiana,  the  region  of  Samarkand).  In  the  south-west  is  the  river  Yao-sha 
(the  Yaxartes),  and  in  the  south-east  are  big  mountains  producing  si-s&  (or  so-so). "^ 

Another  passage  containing  this  word  will  be  found  in  Ch.  256  of 
the  T'ang  shu,  in  the  account  of  Tibet. 

and  Tibet  (the  Tibetan  name  is  ko-shel;  in  Mongol:  tabarkhai  shel;  in  Manchu: 
meisile,  an  artificial  hybrid  from  Chinese  mi  and  Tibetan  shel  'crystal').  In  Ch'^ng- 
tu  fu,  the  capital  of  Sze-ch'uan  Province,  a  number  of  small  girdle-pendants  carved 
from  this  substance  were  obtained  by  me  (Yun-nan  being  given  as  the  place  of  pro- 
duction) which  have  not  yet  been  examined  as  to  their  composition. 

1  See  F.  HiRTH,  Nachworte  zur  Inschrift  des  Tonjukuk,  p.  81  (in  W.  Radloff, 
Die  alttiirkischen  Inschriften  der  Mongoleij^  Vol.  II,  St.  Petersburg,  1899).  E. 
Chavannes,  Documents  sur  les  Tou-Kiue  (Turcs)  occidentaux,  p.  140  (St.  Peters- 
burg, 1903)  translating  the  same  passage  accepts  the  rendering  of  Hirth.  Also  Giles, 
in  the  second  edition  of  his  Chinese-English  Dictionary,  sides  with  this  translation. 
Palladius,  who  transcribes  the  word  she-she,  was  not  of  this  opinion,  for  in  his 
excellent  Chinese- Russiarl  Dictionary  (Vol.  II,  p.  569)  he  gives  the  definition  "azure- 
colored,  transparent  precious  stone."  He  has  likewise  another  word  she-she  (written 
with  the  character  No.  9600  in  the  Dictionary  of  Giles)  with  the  meaning  of  "emer- 
ald." CouvREUR  (Dictionnaire  classique  de  la  langue  chinoise,  p.  584)  explains  se-se: 
"nom  d'une  belle  pierre  et  d'une  esp^ce  de  verre."  In  his  Dictionnaire  chinois- 
frangais  (p.  13),  the  same  author  gives  the  interpretation:  "pierre  bleue  et  trans- 
parente,"  and  for  the  plain  se:  "limpidity  d'une  pierre  pr^cieuse;  pur,  net."  It 
would  be  very  interesting  to  have  the  Chinese  source  pointed  out  to  which  the  state- 
ments of  Palladius  and  Couvreur  in  regard  to  the  transparency  of  the  stone  go  back; 
in  the  Chinese  records  at  my  disposal  I  regret  I  can  find  nothing  to  this  effect.  In 
view  of  the  mineralogical  properties  of  turquois  it  is  evident  that  this  is  a  point  of 
importance,  for  non-transparency  is  one  of  the  prominent  characteristics  of  turquois. 
As  we  can  but  presume  that  both  Palladius  and  Couvreur  must  have  founded  their 
definition  on  some  Chinese  document,  this  would  present  another  of  the  objections 
which  must  be  raised  to  the  weak  hypothesis  of  identifying  sii-si  with  the  turquois. 
E.  H.  Parker  {China  Review,  Vol.  XVIII,  1890,  p.  221)  defines  se-se  as  a  sort  of  jade 
much  used  for  arrowheads  and  other  purposes  by  the  Tibetans,  Tungusians,  and  even 
Ta  Yue-chi  (Indoscythians)  who  after  their  conversion  to  Buddhism  had  a  sacred 
patra  or  alms-bowl  made  of  the  same  material  (ts'ing  shi);  in  his  opinion,  si-s^  is 
identical  with  the  latter  term,  which  means  green  or  blue  (but  possibly  also  dark- 
colored)  stone.  This  point  of  view  is  hardly  correct.  The  arrowheads  of  the 
Tungusian  tribes,  as  corroborated  by  archaeological  finds  made  in  the  Amur  region, 
were  of  nothing  but  common  flint.  The  ts'ing  shi  of  which  the  alms-bowl  of  the 
Indoscythians  was  made  in  all  probability  was  lapis  lazuli  and  would  accordingly 
mean  in  this  case  'blue  stone';  on  Buddhist  pictures  alms-bowls  are  usually  painted 
an  ultramarine  or  lapis-lazuli  blue  color  (see  above  p.  14).  There  are  several  other 
instances  where  the  word  ts'ing  shi  has  the  same  meaning  (Hirth,  China  and  the 
Roman  Orient,  p.  72,  and  Chinesische  Studien,  p.  250).  There  is  no  Chinese  text 
saying  that  se-se  was  a  kind  of  jade,  that  it  was  a  ts'ing  shi,  or  ever  used  for 
arrowheads. 


26     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

"The  officers  in  full  costume  wear  as  ornaments  —  those  of  the  highest  rank 
si-sS,  the  next  gold,  then  gilded  silver,  then  silver,  and  the  lowest  copper  —  which 
hang  in  large  and  small  strings  from  the  shoulder,  and  distinguish  the  rank  of  the 
wearer."* 

BusHELL  comments  that  se-se  is  a  kind  of  precious  stone  found  in  the 
high  mountains  north-east  of  Tashkend.  At  the  outset,  it  does  not 
seem  very  likely  that  in  the  latter  passage  the  word  has  the  significance 
of  turquois,  for  it  outranks  gold  (compare  above  p.  ii)  and  however 
much  appreciated  in  Tibet,  a  turquois  could  never  outshine  gold  nor 
have  any  value  equivalent  to  it,  as  was  and  is  the  case  everywhere  else; 
and  as  shown  above,  it  was  not  even  looked  upon  as  a  precious  stone  by 
the  ancient  Tibetans.  There  was  still  less  reason  for  the  Tibetans  to 
import  their  turquoises  from  Tashkend  —  if  se-se  should  denote  espe- 
cially the  turquoises  of  that  locality  —  as  they  found  them  in  great 
abundance  in  their  own  country.  Nor  was  the  turquois  apt  to  serve 
for  the  distinction  of  the  first  official  rank  in  Tibet,  as  it  has  always  been 
there  part  and  parcel  of  the  adornment  of  all  classes  of  people  and  par- 
ticularly the  ornament  of  women  who  are  loaded  with  it.  The  se-se 
of  the  Tibetan  officials  must,  therefore,  have  been  something  else,  a 
much  scarcer  and  more  valuable  gem.  An  idea  of  its  value  is  afforded 
by  a  notice  in  the  Annals  of  the  Five  Dynasties  {Sin  Wu  tai  shi,  Ch.  74, 
p.  4b)  where  it  is  said  that  the  women  of  the  T'u-po  (Tibetans)  wear  beads 
of  se-se  in  the  plaited  tresses  of  their  hair,  and  thdt,  as  regards  the  best 
quality  of  these  beads,  a  single  one  is  bartered  for,  or  has  the  exchange 
value  of,  a  noble  horse. ^  This  seems  to  me  to  be  sufficient  evidence 
militant  against  the  identification  of  se-se  with  the  turquois,  as  far  as 
Tibet  is  concerned,  for  a  single  turquois,  whose  value  in  Tibet  may  range 
from  a  few  cents  up  to  a  dollar  or  so,  could  never  have  had  nor  has  a 
valuation  equivalent  to  a  good  horse.^ 

1  See  S.  W.  BusHELL,  The  Early  History  of  Tibet,  p.  8  {Journal  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  1880).  The  T'ang  shu  (K'ien-lung  edition,  Ch.  216  A,  p.  i  b)  has  instead  of 
se-sS  the  reading  k'in-se,  a  frequent  compound  meaning  "lute  and  harp"  (Giles's 
Dictionary,  No.  2109).  It  is  evident  that  this  way  of  writing  is  erroneous,  and  was 
perhaps  suggested  to  a  copyist  who  did  not  understand  the  unusual  word  s^-se.  The 
passage  is  not  contained  in  the  Old  History  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  {Kiu  T'ang  shu), 
but  only  in  the  New  History  (Sin  T'ang  shu). 

^  This  passage  occurs  in  the  report  of  the  embassy  of  Kao  Kiii-hui  of  938  A.  D. 
Abel-Remusat  (Histoire  de  la  villedeKhotan,  p.  77,  Paris,  1820),  who  has  translated 
this  account,  rendered  the  word  s^-si  by  "pearls." 

^  In  the  History  of  the  Kingdom  of  Nan-chao  {Nan-chao  ye  shi,  published  in  1550), 
a  tribute  of  se-s^  is  mentioned  for  the  year  794  as  being  sent  from  Nan-chao,  com- 
prising the  territory  of  the  present  province  of  Yiin-nan,  to  the  court  of  China  (C. 
Sainson,  Histoire  particuli^re  du  Nan-Tchao,  p.  54,  Paris,  1904).  At  first  sight,  the 
s&-se  in  this  instance  might  be  regarded  as  turquoises.  R.  Pumpelly,  as  will  be  noted 
below,  has  referred  to  Yiin-nan  as  a  locality  producing  a  mineral  similar  to  turquois, 
though  this  report  requires  confirmation.  There  is  further  evidence  in  the  Annals 
of  the  Yuan  Dynasty  (Yiian  shi,  Ch.  16,  p.  10  b)  that  in  1290  turquoises  {pi  tien-tse) 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  27 

In  the  Old  History  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty  (Kiu  T'ang  shu,  Ch.  198, 
p.  II  b),  a  description  of  the  country  Fu-lin  (Syria)  is  given,  whose  great 
wealth  in  precious  stones  is  emphasized.  In  the  palaces,  it  is  said  there, 
the  pillars  are  made  of  se-se}  It  is  difficult  to  see,  if  se-se  should  have 
to  be  identified  with  the  turquois,  how  pillars  could  be  made  of  this 
material.  The  Chinese  text  does  not  say  that  the  pillars  were  adorned 
or  inlaid  with  this  stone  but  produced  from  it. 

A  fourth  passage  in  the  T'ang  shu  (Ch.  221  a,  p.  lob)  referring  to 
se-se  is  contained  in  an  account  of  Khotan  (Yu  lien).  Emperor  Te- 
tsung  (780-805)  despatched  an  emissary,  Chu  Ju-yii  by  name,  to 
Khotan  on  the  search  for  jade,  and  he  obtained  there  a  hundred  pounds 
(catties)  of  se-se}  This  notice  is  of  great  interest  in  showing  that  the 
precious  stones  of  this  name  were  really  imported  into  China,  and  that 
the  mart  for  them  was  Khotan. 

There  are,  however,  still  earlier  references  to  the  jewel  s^-se.  It  is 
for  the  first  time  mentioned  in  the  Pei  shi  (Ch.  97,  pp.  7  b,  12  a)  and  in 
the  ''Annals  of  the  Sui  Dynasty"  '  {Sui  shu,  Ch.  83,  containing  a  record 
of  the  foreign  countries  then  known  to  the  Chinese).     Both  histories 

were  gathered  in  the  circuit  of  Hui-ch'uan  in  Yiin-nan  Province;  my  friend  Prof. 
Paul  Pelliot  was  good  enough  to  draw  my  attention  to  this  passage.  Another  pas- 
sage alludes  to  a  gift  of  a  thousand  turquoises  sent  from  Hui-ch'uan  in  1284  {Kitir 
Ving  se  wen  hien  t'ung  k'ao,  Ch.  23,  p.  7).  But  it  seems  likely  from  what  will  be  stated 
farther  on  in  regard  to  the  first  acquaintance  of  the  Cliinese  with  the  turquois  in  the 
Mongol  period  that  the  turquois  mines  of  Yiin-nan  were  opened  only  shortly  before 
this  time.  At  any  rate  I  am  not  inclined  to  transfer  this  account  without  reserve  to 
the  date  794,  nor  to  believe  in  the  identity  of  the  different  terms  se-si  and  pi  tien-tse. 
While  I  should  merely  admit  the  possibility  of  such  an  identification,  another  histori- 
cal explanation  of  the  case  may  be  pointed  out.  In  the  eighth  century,  the  T'ai  or 
Shan,  the  stock  of  peoples  forming  the  kingdom  of  Nan-chao,  were  in  close  political 
alliance  with  the  Tibetans  who  had  then  reached  the  zenith  of  their  power.  It  would 
therefore  be  justifiable  to  conclude  that  the  se-se  of  Nan-chao  were  derived  from  Tibet 
and  are  to  be  identified  with  the  ancient  Tibetan  se-se,  which,  as  will  be  shown  here- 
after, may  be  the  emerald.  In  the  T'ang  shu  (Ch.  222  a,  p.  2  a),  the  women  of  the 
Southern  Man,  the  large  stock  of  aboriginal  tribes  formerly  spread  over  the  whole  of 
southern  China,  are  said  to  fasten  in  their  hair  beads,  shells,  se-.st,  and  amber.  In 
this  case  it  is  rather  tempting  at  first  sight  to  interpret  se-se  as  turquois,  because  this 
combination  of  turquois  and  amber,  as  pointed  out  before,  occurs  indeed  among  the 
Tibetan  group  of  tribes.  But  the  Man  do  not  belong  to  the  Tibetan  family,  and 
another  difificulty  is  presented  by  the  fact  that  there  are  no  records  either  of  ancient 
or  modern  times  pointing  to  the  employment  of  the  turquois  among  any  tribe  of  the 
Man,  so  that  it  is  safer  to  assume  that  the  turquois  is  not  understood  in  the  above 
text. 

'  HiRTH,  China  and  the  Roman  Orient,  p.  53.  At  that  time  (1885)  Hirth  had 
not  advanced  any  identification  of  this  term. 

*  He  embezzled  the  jade  objects  destined  for  the  emperor,  was  sentenced,  and 
died  in  exile  (Chavannes,  Documents,  p.  128,  note  2). 

'  The  Pei  shi,  "  Northern  Annals,"  was  written  by  Li  Yen-shou  (Giles,  Biographi- 
cal Dictionary,  p.  474)  and  completed  about  the  year  644;  it  comprises  the  history  of 
the  dynasties  of  the  north  ruling  from  386  to  618.  The  Sui  dynasty  ruled  from  589 
to  618.  The  Sui  shu  was  composed  by  Wei  Ch&ng  (581-643;  Giles,  I.  c,  p.  856) 
under  the  T'ang  dynasty  and  completed  in  636. 


28    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

mention  the  jewel  in  two  passages,—  first,  as  a  product  of  the  country 
of  Sogdiana  (K'ang)  corresponding  to  the  region  of  Samarkand,  and 
secondly  as  a  product  of  Persia  (Pose,  from  Pars)}  The  text  of  the 
Pei  ski,  with  the  same  indications,  is  found  also  in  the  "Annals  of  the 
Wei  Dynasty"  {Wei  shu,  Ch.  102,  pp.  5a  and  9b) .^     But  this  passage 

1  It  is  noticeable  that  si-se  as  products  of  Persia  are  mentioned  in  Pei  shi  and 
Sui  shu,  but  not  in  the  two  T'ang  shu.  The  Kiu  T'ang  shu  (Ch.  198,  p.  11)  enu- 
merates as  precious  objects  of  Persia  coral-trees,  ch'i-k'ii,  agate,  and  "fire-pearls" 
(huo  chu).  The  T'ang  shu  mentions  only  coral  as  a  product  of  Persia  and  the  gift  to 
China  of  a  couch  of  agate  (Chavannes,  Documents,  pp.  171,  174).  The  exact 
history  of  the  term  ch'e-k'ti  which  in  general  denotes  a  large  white  conch  (Tibetan 
dung,  Sanskrit  gankha,  Arabic  shenek:  M.  Reinaud,  Relation  des  voyages  faits  par 
les  Arabes,  Vol.  I,  p.  6),  and  sometimes  seems  to  refer  to  a  precious  stone  remains  to 
be  ascertained  (compare  Hirth  and  Rockhill,  Chau  Ju-kua,  p.  231;  Pelliot, 
T'oung  Pao,  1912,  p.  481).  The  "fire-pearls"  were  lenses  of  rock-crystal,  alleged  to 
have  been  used  for  producing  fire  (F.  de  Mely,  Les  lapidaires  chinois,  p.  60;  Cha- 
vannes, Documents,  p.  166;  Pelliot,  Bulletin  de  V Ecole  franqaise  d' Extreme-Orient, 
Vol.  Ill,  1903,  p.  270;  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  Ch.  8,  p.  18  a).  In  the  Sui  shu,  se-se  are 
enumerated  together  with  genuine  pearls,  glass,  amber,  coral,  lapis  lazuli,  agate, 
rock-crystal,  huo  ts'i,  and  diamond.  The  name  huo  ts'i  (the  alleged  identity  with 
huo  chu  remains  to  be  proved)  has  not  yet  been  properly  identified.  In  the  Nan  shi 
(Ch.  78,  p.  7)  these  stones  are  mentioned  as  products  of  central  India  and  described 
as  having  the  appearance  of  yiin-mu  and  the  color  of  violet  gold  (Pelliot,  /.  c);  the 
difficulty  is  that  also  the  word  yiin-mu  which  according  to  Pelliot  seems  to  designate 
mica  and  mother-o'-pearl  is  not  yet  determined  beyond  doubt.  Possibly,  huo-ts'i 
designates  the  garnet.  The  word  se-se  is,  in  the  text  of  the  Sui  shu,  followed  by  the 
words  hu  lo  kie  lii  t'eng.  At  first  I  was  inclined  to  take  the  verb  hu  in  its  literal  sense 
"called,  designated,"  and  to  believe  that  the  words  following  it  represent  a  gloss, 
being  the  Persian  or  Arabic  name  of  the  stone  in  Chinese  transcription.  Recon- 
structing the  ancient  sounds  of  those  Chinese  characters  we  would  arrive  at  the  read- 
ing lok  (or  rok)-ket-li-dang;  but  there  is  no  word  in  Persian  or  Arabic  to  be  identified 
with  such  a  form.  M.  Paul  Pelliot,  to  whom  I  submitted  this  difficult  point,  has 
been  good  enough  to  write  me  that  this  passage  had  already  attracted  his  attention, 
and  that  he  does  not  regard  the  incriminated  words  as  a  gloss;  he  thinks  that  the  word 
hu  is  also  part  of  the  transcription,  and  that  two  further  products  are  enumerated  in 
their  Persian  names.  The  passage,  accordingly,  should  be  understood  in  the  sense 
that  Persia  produces  se-se,  hu-lo{k),  and  ket-li-dang.  The  two  latter  names, "however, 
are  as  yet  unidentified,  but  with  M.  Pelliot's  very  plausible  point  of  view,  a  better 
attempt  at  identification  might  be  pursued.  Indeed,  Prof.  A.  V.  Williams  Jackson 
had  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  katlidang  may  be  a  compound  of  the  word 
qatldn,  "link"  or  "scale,"  used  alike  in  Arabic,  Turkish  and  Persian,  and  the  Persian 
word  tan  "body,"  the  content  of  the  term  implying  scale  or  chain  armor.  This  is 
very  suggestive,  as  indeed  Persia  was  the  country  which  supplied  China  with  chain- 
mail  (ancient  specimens  in  the  Field  Museum).  The  T'ang  shu,  in  the  account  on 
Samarkand  (K'ang)  states  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  period  K'ai-yiian  (713-741) 
Samarkand  sent  as  tribute  to  China  chain-mail  {so-tse  k'ai).  This  question  will  be 
shortly  discussed  by  me  in  another  place.  Liang  shu  (Ch.  54,  p.  14  b)  attributes  to 
Persia  coral-trees  one  to  two  feet  high,  amber,  agate,  genuine  pearls,  and  mei-hui. 
Hirth  and  Rockhill  (Chau  Ju-kua,  p.  16,  St.  Petersburg,  1912),  treating  the  prod- 
ucts of  Persia  after  Wei  shu  and  Sui  shu,  entirely  omit  the  se-se  (and  several  others). 
It  seems  doubtful  if,  as  stated  so  positively  by  the  two  authors,  "most  of  these  prod- 
ucts came,  of  course,  from  India,  or  from  countries  of  south-eastern  Asia,  only  a  few 
being  products  of  Arabia,  or  countries  bordering  on  the  Persian  Gulf"  (and  again  on 
p.  7).  This  is  true  only  to  a  certain  extent;  the  se-se,  at  any  rate,  are  not  mentioned 
by  the  Chinese  as  products  of  India  or  south-eastern  Asia,  but  exclusively  as  products 
of  Persia  and  Sogdiana,  to  which,  later  in  the  T'ang  period,  Fu-lin,  Tashkend,  Tibet, 
and  the  Man  are  joined. 

^  The  Wei  dynasty  ruled  from  386  to  556;  the  Wei  shu  was  written  by  Wei  Shou 
(506-572;  Giles,  /.  c,  p.  867)  and  presented  to  the  throne  in  554. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  29 

has  no  independent  value,  because  Ch.  102  of  this  work  treating  of  the 
countries  of  the  west,  as  well  demonstrated  by  Chavannes,^  has  been 
merely  reproduced  from  Ch.  97  of  the  Pei  shi  by  a  committee  of  schol- 
ars of  the  Sung  period  headed  by  Fan  Tsu-yii  (1641-1098). 

It  is  thus  evident  that  si-se  were  known  to  the  Chinese  prior  to  the 
age  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  as  occurring  in  the  territory  of  Persia  and 
Sogdiana,  to  wit,  within  the  Iranian  culture-area.  It  is  noteworthy 
also  that  any  particular  region  or  mountain  producing  the  stone  is  not 
alluded  to  in  these  earlier  texts  as  subsequently  in  the  T'ang  shti,  and 
that  Pei  shi  and  Sui  shu,  while  locating  se-se  in  Sogdiana,  do  not  allude 
to  it  in  their  notices  of  Tashkend  {Shi  kuo). 

As  I  did  not  know  on  what  evidence  Prof.  Hirth  had  based  his 
identification  of  se-se  with  the  turquois,  I  consulted  him  regarding  this 
point,  and  he  was  good  enough  to  furnish  the  following  note  which  is 
here  reproduced  with  his  kind  permission. 

"The  word  s6-s6  (in  Cantonese  shat-shat,  sit-sit,  or  sok-sok)  has,  besides  others, 
the  meaning  of  a  precious  stone,  'a  greenish  or  bluish  bead'  (pi  chu),  as  quoted  in 
P'ei  wen  yiinfu,  Ch.  93  B,  p.  85.  The  P^n  ts'ao  kang  mu  (Ch.  8,  p.  55)  says  that  the 
people  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  called  green  (or  blue)  precious  stones  by  the  name  so-so. 
The  Japanese  sources  as  quoted  in  Geerts,  Les  Produits  de  la  nature  japonaise  et 
chinoise,  p.  481,  do  not  apparently  refer  to  so-so,  but  the  T'u  shu  tsi  ch'Sng  (section 
27,  National  Economy,  Ch.  335)  contains  an  extract  from  the  T'ien  kung  k'ai  wu  in 
which  so-so  is  classed  with  greenish  precious  stones.  The  T'ang  kuo  shih  p'u  (ibid.) 
relates  the  story  o:  a  big  so-so  which  the  author  thinks  was  not  a  genuine  one ;  the  same 
story  is  told  in  Yen  fan  lu,  Ch.  15,  p.  11. 

"Bretschneider  (Chinese  Recorder,  Vol.  VI,  p.  6)  was,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  first 
to  find  out  that  se-se  was  not  a  musical  instrument  as  Pauthier  had  assumed,  but  a 
precious  stone.^  In  his  translation  of  a  passage  regarding  precious  stones  found  in 
the  Cho  keng  lu  (reproduced  in  his  Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  pp.  173-6),  he  refers 
to  'stones  called  tien-tze'  which  occur  in  Nishapur  and  Kirman.  Bretschneider  says 
of  these :  '  I  have  little  doubt  that  the  Chinese  author  understood  by  it  the  turquoise, 
the  Persian  name  of  which  \sfiruze.  Both  Nishapur  and  Kirman  produced  turquoise. 
So  did  the  hills  of  Ferghana  referred  to  in  Nachworte,  etc.,  p.  81,  for  the  territory  of 
Ferghana  furnished  turquoises,  according  to  von  Kremer,  Kulturgeschichte  des 
Orients,  Vol.  I,  p.  329.  These  are  the  reasons  which  had  induced  me  to  render  so-so 
by  'Turkis'."' 

^  Documents,  p.  99. 

^  The  word  si-se  in  the  sense  of  a  jewel,  as  will  be  seen  below,  is  the  Chinese 
transcription  of  a  foreign  word.  The  single  word  se  denotes  a  stringed  musical 
instrument,  a  kind  of  lute,  described  e.  g.  by  J.  A.  van  Aalst  (Chinese  Music,  p.  62, 
Shanghai,  1884).  But  there  is  a  passage  (in  the  San  kuo  chi,  Wei  chi,  commentary  to 
the  Biography  of  Ch'Sn  Se-wang,  quoted  in  P'ei  wen  yiinfu,  Ch.  93  B,  p.  85)  where 
also  the  compound  se-se  seems  to  have  the  meaning  of  a  musical  instrument.  In  the 
Tsin  shu  (Ch.  97,  p.  2)  it  is  said  in  regard  to  the  Shen  Han,  a  Korean  tribe,  that  they 
are  skilled  in  playing  the  se-se  which  in  shape  is  like  a  five-stringed  lute  {chu, 
No.  2575). 

'  It  should  be  added  that  it  is  Bretschneider  himself  (Mediaeval  Researches, 
Vol.  I,  p.  140)  who  first  proposed  the  translation  of  si-si  as  turquois,  but  with 
the  restriction  of  a  "probably." 


30    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  color  designation  insisted  on  by  Hirth  is 
hardly  conclusive;  the  color  name  pi,  'bluish-green'  (originally  a  kind 
of  jade)  is  quite  indistinct,  and  aside  from  the  fact  that  there  are  many 
other  green  or  blue  stones  Hke  emerald,  lapis  lazuH,  malachite,  sapphire, 
etc.,^  this  attribute  with  reference  to  s^-se  does  not  appear  in  contempo- 
raneous records  of  the  Sui  or  T'ang  periods,  but  only  in  later  authors 
who  were  not  personally  familiar  w4th  the  stone.  It  was  known  in 
China  under  that  name  only  to  a  limited  extent,  during,  that  time,  and 
to  the  later  generations  the  newly  coined  word  simply  became  a  poetical 
name  with  no  other  meaning  than  that  of  a  rare,  precious  stone.  The 
one  fact  stands  out  clearly,  that  se-se  was  looked  upon  as  a  precious 
stone,  a  fact  for  which  more  testimony  will  be  given,  and  this  is  evidence 
that  it  can  hardly  be  the  turquois.  It  is  always  essential  to  ascertain 
to  what  category  an  object  in  the  views  of  the  Chinese  belongs;  these 
categories  are  always  fixed  and  stable,  and  suggest  an  inference  as  to 
the  nature  of  the  object  in  question.  No  Chinese  has  ever  considered 
turquois  a  precious  stone,  but  just  a  common  stone  good  enough  for 
barbarous  ornaments.^  It  is  worth  5  Taels  (about  $3.50)  a  catty  (i^ 
pounds)  in  Si-ngan  fu  where  it  is  sold  by  weight,  and  if  the  famous  se-se 
were  nothing  more  than  that,  the  Chinese  authors  would  not  have 
expressed  any  enthusiasm  about  them.'     Hirth's  quotation  from  Bret- 

1  That  the  definition  pi  chu  means  little  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  other  jewels 
are  also  defined  by  this  term,  as,  for  example,  the  pearl  called  mu-nan  (Hirth,  Chma 
and  the  Roman  Orient,  p.  59)  which  is  even  described  as  yellow  m  other  texts  {Ko 
chi  king  yilan,  Ch.  32,  p.  7  b).  Compare  also  P'ei  wen  yiinfu,  Ch.  7  A,  p.  loi  h  (pt 
chu).  The  color  argument  should  therefore  be  disregarded.— The  comparative  tables 
of  the  colors  given  by  W.  Tassin  (Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the  Collections  of.  Gems 
in  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  Report  of  National  Museum,  1900,  pp.  541,  542) 
enumerate  the  green  stones  as  follows:  zircon,  sapphire,  garnet  (demantoid  and 
ouvarovite),  chrysoberyl ' (alexandrite) ,  spinel,  topaz,  diamond,  olivine  (peridot), 
tourmaline,  beryl  (emerald  and  aquamarine),  quartz  (chrysoprase,  plasma,  prase, 
and  iasper),  turquois.  The  blue  stones  are:  sapphire,  spinel,  topaz,  diamond, 
tourmaline  (indicoHte),  bervl  (aquamarine),  iolite  (water  sapphire,  dichrolite). 
It  should  not  be  overiooked  either  that,  as  shown  by  the  modern  word  lu  sung  sht, 
the  color  of  turquois  is  described  by  the  Chinese  with  the  word  l-ii,  not  pi. 

2  A.  J.  C.  Geerts  (Les  produits  de  la  nature  japonaise  et  chinoise,  p.  202,  Yoko- 
hama, 1878)  was  cautious  enough  to  pay  due  attention  to  the  distinction  made 
between  pierres  ordinaires  and  pierres  precieuses  in  the  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu. 

'  In  the  Lapidarium  of  Pseudo-Aristotle  (Julius  Ruska,  Das  Steinbuch  des 
Aristoteles,  p.  152,  Heidelberg,  19 12)  it  is  said  in  regard  to  the  turquois:  "Its  color 
delights  those  afflicted  with  sorrow,  but  it  is  not  employed  for  the  costume  of  the 
kings,  because  it  detracts  from  their  majesty."  A  similar  remark  is  made  by  Ibn 
al-Baitar:  "It  is  soft  and  a  bit  fragile,  and  is  not  used  for  the  ornaments  of  the 
sovereigns"  (L.  Leclerc,  Traits  des  simples,  /.  c,  p.  50).  In  an  Arabic  work  of  1175 
it  is  said:  "Many  kings  hardly  have  the  desire  to  wear  a  turquois,  because  the  vulgar 
frequently  utilizes  it  as  sigillum  and  wears  finger  rings  which  are  imitations  of  its  best 
kind"  (Wiedemann,  Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  der  Naturwissenschaften,  XXX.  Zur 
Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  234,  Eriangen,  1912).  Also  in  Europe  turquoises  were  low 
in  price.  "Admodum  magno  pretio  non  venditur,  quia  magna  lUarum  ex  Oriente 
adiertur  copia,"  says  A.  Boetius  de  Boot  (Gemmarum  et  lapidum  histona,  p.  271, 
ed.  of  A.  Toll,  Lugduni  Batavorum,  1636).  The  general  rule  may  be  set  down 
that  there  is  a  large  consensus  of  opinion  as  to  the  value  of  precious  metals  and 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  31 

Schneider  is  hardly  in  favor  of  his  view  that  se-se  was  the  turquois; 
Bretschneider's  statement  merely  shows  that  at  the  end  of  the 
Mongol  dynasty  — -  the  Cho  keng  lu  was  published  in  1366  —  the  Persian 
tiu"quois  became  known  to  the  Chinese. 

From  three  practical  examples  it  may  be  demonstrated  that  se-se, 
as  known  during  the  Sung  period,  cannot  be  construed  to  mean  turquois. 

In  the  K'ao  kti  t'u  (Ch.  10,  p.  22  b),  a  book  on  ancient  bronzes  by 
Lii  Ta-lin,  completed  in  1092,  a  girdle-clasp  is  figured  and  described 
as  being  made  of  se-se;  it  is  a  highly  ornamented  piece,  engraved  in  fine 
lines  and  ending  in  a  curve  shaped  into  a  dragon's  head.  This  whole 
technique  would  be  impossible  if  the  material  were  turquois,  which 
results  only  in  straight,  stiff,  angular  lines  (compare  Plates  VI-VIII). 

The  Ku  yil  Vu  p'u,  "Illustrated  Description  of  Ancient  Jades," 
compiled  in  11 76  and  printed  in  1779,  describes  several  jade  specimens 
adorned  with  the  stone  se-se, —  a  sword  possessed  by* the  Sung  Emperor 
T'ai-tsu  (968-976),  having  a  hilt  ornamented  with  amber,  se-se,  and 
genuine  pearls  (Ch.  28,  p.  10).  The  Chinese  would  hardly  display  such 
bad  taste  as  to  unite  a  cheap  stone  like  turquois  with  genuine  pearls. 
In  Ch.  97,  p.  10,  of  the  same  work  a  jade  lantern  of  the  Sung  palace  is 
figured  and  described,  the  eight  sides  of  which  are  adorned  with  coral, 
amber,  se-se  and  such  like  jewels  (pao).  In  this  case  turquois  is  again 
out  of  the  question,  as  it  is  not  considered  by  the  Chinese  a  precious 
stone  or  a  jewel,  but  just  an  ordinary  stone. ^ 

The  two  works  here  quoted  come  down  from  the  Sung  period, 

and  it  can  be  shown  from  another  source  of  the  same  epoch  that  the 

word  se-se  designated  at  that  time  a  stone  capable  of  carving  found  on 

the  very  soil  of  China,  and  that,  consequently,  the  se-se  in  the  age  of  the 

Sung  dynasty  are  affairs  different  from  those  mentioned  in  the  Pet  shi, 

Sui  shu  and   T'ang  shu  for  Persia,  Sogdiana,  Ferghana,  and  Tibet^ 

Kao  Se-sun,  a  poet  and  essayist  who  lived  in  the  latter  part  of  the 

twelfth  century,^  is  the  author  of  an  interesting  work  on  miscellaneous 

minerals  among  peoples  of  all  times,  and  that  the  changes  which  have  affected  the 
appreciation  of  precious  stones  from  the  days  of  antiquity  until  now  are  but  very 
slight,  chiefly  due  to  the  operations  of  fashion  and  variations  in  the  sources  of  supply. 
Thus  it  is  not  very  likely  that  a  stone  looked  upon  as  non-precious  at  present  by  gen- 
eral agreement  of  opinion  was  ever  prized  as  a  jewel  in  earlier  periods  of  history. 

'  Such  carvings  of  se-sS  are  referred  to.also  by  other  authors  of  the  Sung  period. 
Chou  Mi  in  his  interesting  work  Yun  yen  kuo  yen  lu  (Ch.  b,  p.  31  b),  a  review  of 
ancient  bronzes,  paintings  and  jades  which  had  come  to  the  notice  of  the  author 
during  his  lifetime,  mentions  the  carving  of  "a  crane  moaning  in  the  autumn"  en- 
tirely made  from  this  material.  This  very  subject  savors  of  the  impressionism  of  the 
Sung  artists,  and  in  this  case  turquois  is  inconceivable,  not  only  for  technical  but 
also,  and  even  more  so,  for  artistic  reasons.  The  work  quoted  is  embodied  in  the 
collection  'Shi  wan  kiian  lou  edited  by  Lu  Sin-yiian  and  thoroughly  analyzed  by  Paul 
Pelliot  {Bulletin  de  l' Ecole  franQaise  d' Extreme-Orient,  Vol.  IX,  1909,  p.  246). 

'^  Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  368;  Wylie,  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature, 
p.  161. 


32     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

subjects,  entitled  Wei-lio}  In  Ch.  5,  p.  3,  he  has  gathered  several  notes 
concerning  se-se.  He  quotes  the  Huan  yil  ki  ^  to  the  effect  that  se-se 
are  mined  in  Shan-chou  ^  and  P'ing-lu.*  Neither  of  these  locaHties  is 
known  as  having  ever  produced  turquois.  We  shall  see  farther  on  that 
turquois  became  known  and  was  mined  in  China  only  under  the  Yiian 
dxTiasty  fpllowing  the  Sung,  so  that  w«  may  justly  conclude  that  the 
Chinese  of  the  Sung  period  were  not  yet  acquainted  with  it.  Besides, 
there  is  the  technical  evidence  that  turquois,  according  to  its  natural 
properties,  could  not  have  entered  such  objects  as  are  reported  to  have 
been  made  of  scrse.  The  Wei  lio  furnishes  us  with  additional  evidence 
on  this  point,  which  goes  to  show  that,  if  these  reports  are  trustworthy, 
a  substance  se-se  of  Chinese  production  was  utilized  as  early  as  the 
T'ang  period.  It  is  related  in  regard  to  an  official  of  that  time,  who 
presided  over  the  bureau  of  the  salt  and  iron  monopoly  in  the  province 
of  Fu-kien,  that  he  owned  a  pillow  made  of  se-se  placed  on  a  golden 
bedstead.^  Emperor  Hien-tsung  (806-820)  tried  to  estimate  its  value, 
but  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  it  was  a  priceless  treasure,  while 
others  said  that  this  pillow  was  made  from  a  beautiful  stone,  but  not 
from  se-se.  The  author  of  the  Wei  lio  adds:  "What  is  circulating 
among  our  contemporaries  under  the  name  se-se,  I  believe  is  made -from 
molten  stone."  ®  So  it  seems  that  at  the  Sung  period  the  se-se  may 
have  been,  at  least  partially,  artificial  productions.  It  is  self-evident 
that  the  pillow  referred  to  cannot  have  been  made  of  turquois.  The 
rectangular  shapes  of  Chinese  pillows  with  convex  surface  are  well 
known,  and  it  is  impossible  to  carve  turquois  which  is  quarried  in  long 
slabs  ^  into  such  a  form. 

'  Reprinted  in  Shou  shan  ko  ts'ung  shu,  Vol.  74. 

-  A  general,  mainly  geographical,  description  of  China  published  by  Yo  Shi  dur- 
ing the  period  T'ai-p'ing  hing-kuo  (976-981)  of  the  Sung  dynasty. 

'  In  the  province  of  Ho-nan  (Playfair,  Cities  and  Towns  of  China,  No.  6157). 

■*  District  in  Shan-si  Province  (Playfair,  No.  5812). 

^  The  Wei  lio  quotes  this  story  from  the  Yen  fan  lu  of  Ch'^ng  Ta-ch"ang,  written 
in  1 175.  The  P'ei  wen  yiin  fu  {I.  c.)  gives  it  after  the  biography  of  Lu  Kien-tz'e  in 
the  T'ang  shu,  so  that  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  relates  to  the  period  of  the  T'ang 
dynasty. 

*  There  are  different  versions  of  .this  story  handed  down,  the  details  of  which  are 
not  of  interest  in  this  connection.  According  to  the  T'ang  kuo  shi  p'u,  containing 
records  from  723  to  821  by  Li  Chao  of  the  T'ang  period  (as  quoted  in  the  T'u  shu  tsi 
ch'eng),  the  said  official  was  discharged  on  account  of  defraudations;  the  pillow  which 
was  half  the  size  of  a  peck  was  confiscated  after  a  judicial  trial  and  sent  up  to  Emperor 
Hien-tsung  who  called  some  shop-keepers  as  experts  to  determine  its  value.  Their 
opinions  were  divided,  the  one  calling  it  a  priceless  treasure,  the  others  a.  beautiful 
stone,  but  not  a  genuine  si-se. 

~  Several  such  specimens  showing  turquois  in  the  matrix,  obtained  in  Si-ngan 
fu,  are  in  the  Field  Museum. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  33 

The  Wei  Ho,  further,  refers  to  two  stories  taken  from  the  Ming- 
huang  Is  a  hi} 

Emperor  Ming-huang  is  said  to  have  erected  in  the  palace  Hua-ts'ing 
a  bathing  establishment  consisting  of  ten  rooms  where  he  had  a  boat 
biiilt  of  silver  and  steel,  varnished,  and  adorned  with  pearls  and  jade; 
moreover,  he  piled  up  se-Se  in  the  bathing  pool.  The  author  of  the 
Wei  Ho  thinks  that  the  use  of  the  word  lei  (No.  6833)  "to  pile  up"  in 
this  connection  indicates  that  the  se-se  in  question  were  beads,  and  not 
stones.  But  this  supposition  is  hardly  correct,  for  it  leaves  entirely 
unexplained  what  these  beads  (or 'pearls)  had  to  do  in  the  bath.  In 
the  actual  text  of  the  Ming-huang  tsa  lu  ^  the  story,  however,  is  related 
in  the  form  that  the  se-se  were  utilized  to  build  up  the  well-known 
Three  Isles  of  the  Blessed  of  mythological  fame,  and  this  account 
sounds  more  plausible.  In  this  case,  se-se  seems  tp  have  been  a  kind  of 
building  stone. ^  The  other  story  in  the  Ming-huang  tsa  lu  relates  to 
Dame  Kuo-kuo,  a  sister  of  the  celebrated  beauty  and  imperial  concubine 
Yang  Kuei-fei,*  who  btdlt  a  house  and  rewarded  the  workmen  with  two 
gold  cups  and  three  pecks  of  se-se;  one  peck  of  these,  according  to  the 
opinion  expressed  by  the  author  of  the  Wei  Ho,  had  the  value  of  a  pearl. 
He  further  tells  after  the  Wu  lei  siang  kan  chi,  a  work  of  the  poet  Su  Shi 
(1036-1101),  that  Emperor  I-tsung  (860-873)  of  the  T'ang  dynasty 
presented  a  princess  with  a  screen  of  se-se  adorned  with  genuine  pearls 
strung  on  blue  and  green  silk,  whence  our  authot  Kao  Se-sun  infers 
that  in  this  case  se-se  was  a  kind  of  pearls  of  brilliant  quality.  This 
discourse  leads  us  to  think  that  the  Sung  writers  did  not  know  any 
longer  what  the  se-se  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  were,  that  the  se-se  peculiar 
to  that  age  were  entirely  lost  in  the  Sung  period,  that  substitutes  were 
then  in  vogue,  merely  designated  by  that  name  and  ascribed  to  two 
localities,  Shan-chou  and  P'ing-lu,  and  that  even  the  belief  prevailed 
that  the  se-se  passed  off  under  this  name  at  that  time  were  artificial 
productions  due  to  some  smelting  process.^ 

'That  is,  Miscellaneous  Records  regarding  Emperor  Ming-huang  (712-754),  a 
fwork  by  Chfing  Ch'u-hui  of  the  T'ang  period. 

-  Printed  in  the  collection  Shou  shan  ko  ts'ung  shu,  Vol.  84,  Ch.  B,  p.  4. 

^  This  seems  to  be  the  case  also  in  a  poem  of  Po  Kii-i  (772-846)  when  he  speaks  of 
^'apiece  (or  slab)  of  s^-se  stone"  (i  p'ien  si-se  shi;  P'ei  win  yiinfu,  Ch.  100  A,  p.  47). 
'Neither  the  addition  "stone"  nor  the  word  p'ien  would  be  used  here,  if  the  domestic 
ti-si  had  been  a  precious  stone  or  gem. 

*  Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  908. 

*  Under  the  Yuan  dynasty  the  se-sS  are  mentioned  by  Ch'ang  TS,  a  Chinese 
envoy  who  visited  Bagdad  in  1259,  as  precious  stones  in  the  palace  of  the  Caliph, 
together  with  pearls,  lapis  lazuli  and  diamonds  (Bretschneider,  Chinese  Recorder, 
Vol.  V,  p.  5).  Bretschneider  does  not  make  in  this  passage  an  attempt  at  identifying 
the  stone.  When  he  says  that,  according  to  K'ang-hi's  Dictionary,  it  is  a  kind  of 
pearl,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  Chinese  word  chu  means  only  a  bead,  regard- 


34  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

If  as  early  as  the  Sung  period  the  Chinese  had  lost  all  correct  notions 
of  the  se-se  of  the  Leu-ch'ao  and  T'ang  periods,  there  is  no  reason  to 
wonder  that  the  confusion  becomes  complete  among  the  later  authors 
who  are  simply  content  to  repeat  the  older  statements.  Characteristic 
of  this  state  of  affairs  is  the  explanation  given  in  the  T'ung  ya,  a  miscel- 
lany written  by  Fang  Mi-chi  at  the  close  of  the  Ming  period:  "The 
se-se  are  looked  upon  by  some  as  precious  stones,  while  the  Wei  lio 
considers  them  as  pearls.  Ch'eng  T'ai-chi  says:  The  se-se  circulating 
at  our  time  are  all  made  from  burnt  stone.  There  are,  however,  three 
kinds  of  se-se: —  precious  stones  like  pearls  are  the  genuine  ones;  those 
passing  into  blue  and  changing  their  color  are  the  burnt  ones,  which  are 
round  and  bright ;  Chinese  beads  of  colored  glass  and  baked  clay  are  also 
called  se-se  by  a  mere  transfer  of  the  name."  ^  There  is  assuredly  not 
one  Chinese  author  to  venture  the  identification  of  se-se  with  turquois; 
neither  under  the  Yiian  nor  under  the  Manchu  dynasty  when  turquois 
was  perfectly  known  in  China  did  anybody  assert  that  it  was  identical 
with  the  se-s^  in  vogue  during  the  T'ang  dynasty.^ 

less  of  the  material,  whereas  a  pearl  is  always  chen  chu,  a  true  or  genuine  pearl.  In 
his  Mediaeval  Researches  (Vol.  I,  p.  140),  he  says,  however,  that  se-se  is  probably  the 
turquois.  In  the  Annals  of  the  Yuan  Dynasty  {Yiian  shi,  Ch.  21,  p.  7  b,  reign  of 
Emperor  Ch'eng-tsung,  1 295-1 307)  there  is  another  reference  to  se-se,  two  thousand 
five  hundred  catties  of  which  are  reported  to  have  been  palmed  off  on  officials  in 
lieu  of  money ;  but  this  transaction  was  soon  stopped  by  the  emperor.  The  turquois 
cannot  be  understood  iij  this  case,  because,  as  will  be  seen  below,  this  stone  was 
known  in  the  Mongol  period  under  the  name  pi  tien  and  is  always  so  designated  in  the 
Yiian  shi.  Another  text  allows  the  inference  that  what  was  known  as  se-se  in  the 
Yuan  epoch  was  a  stone  coming  from  Manchuria.  The  Cheng  tse  t'ung  written  in  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  is  quoted  in  K'ang-hi's  Dictionary  as  saying 
that  at  the  time  of  Emperor  Jen-tsung  (1312-20)  of  the  Yiian  dynasty  it  was 
reported  that  the  subprefecture  Kin-chou  (in  Feng-t'ien  fu,  Sheng-king,  Manchuria) 
ofifered  se-se  which  had  been  gathered  in  a  cave.  The  passage  occurs  in  the  Yiian 
shi,  Ch.  24,  p.  2  b;  the  Emperor  was  requested  to  send  an  envoy  to  the  place  who 
should  gather  the  stones,  but  declined,  as  he  regarded  them  as  useless.  Consequently 
the  se-se  of  the  Mongol  period,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  Chinese  territory,  cannot  have 
been  turquoises,  as  it  was  the  very  turquois  which  was  highly  appreciated  by  the 
Mongol  rulers. 

1  Also  Fang  I-chi  who  lived  in  the  first  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  in  his 
work  Wu  li  siao  shi  (Ch.  8,  p.  23  b;  edition  of  Ning  tsing  t'ang,  1884)  states  that 
colored  glass  beads  are  designated  se-se.  This  is  the  most  recent  author  in  whom  I 
have  been  able  to  trace  this  word. 

2  Bretschneider  (Medieval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  175)  is  entirely  erroneous  in 
his  assertion  that  it  is  stated  in  the  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu  that  the  stone  called  tien-tse 
was  known  under  the  name  of  se-se  at  the  time  of  the  T'ang  dynasty.  The  Pen 
ts'ao  does  not  contain  a  word  to  this  eflfect.  Its  author,  Li  Shi-chen,  states  in  the 
beginning  of  his  essay  on  precious  stones  that  blue  ones  are  called  tien-tse 
(No.  11,199);  this  is  not  the  word  tien-tse  (No.  11,180)  used  in  the  Cho  keng  lu  and 
Yiian  shi  (see  below).  Then  follow  ten  sentences  which  have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with 
this  subject,  whereupon  he  proceeds  to  say,  as  stated  above,  that  blue-green  ones  were 
called  se-se  by  the  T'ang  people.  It  is  therefore  evident  that  these  two  statements 
separated  from  each  other  by  several  lines  are  not  mutually  connected,  and  that,  on 
the  contrary,  in  the  mind  of  Li  Shi-chfin  tien-tse  and  se-se  are  entirely  distinct  affairs; 
neither  in  the  case  of  tien-tse  does  he  refer  to  se-si,  nor  in  the  case  of  se-se  to  tien-tse; 
and  he  says  nowhere  that  the  one  is  identical  with  the  other.     Even  did  he  say  so,  his 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  35 

Li  Shi-chen,  the  author  of  the  great  work  on  natural  history,  Pen 
ts'ao  kang  mu,  makes  one  brief  allusion  to  it  (Section  on  Mineralogy, 
kin  shi,  Ch.  8,  p.  17  b)  in  the  chapter  on  Precious  Stones  {pao  ski). 
Enumerating  the  different  kinds  of  jewels  mentioned  in  earlier  texts, 
he  says:  "As  regards  the  blue-green  {pi)  ones,  the  people  of  the  T'ang 
dynasty  called  them  se-se;  as  regards  the  red  ones,  the  Sung  people 
called  them  mo-ho ;  nowadays  the  general  term  is  simply  precious  stones 
which  are  used  for  inlaying  head-ornaments  and  utensils."  This  pas- 
sage shows  that  Li  Shi-ch6n  considers  the  se-sB  as  a  gem  peculiar  to  the 
T'ang  period,  and  that  he  regards  it  as  a  precious  stone,  not  as  an 
ordinary  stone. ^  The  lack  of  any  description  on  his  part  bears  out  the 
fact  that  he  did  not  know  the  stone  from  personal  acquaintance,  and 
that  he  merely  speaks  of  it  on  the  ground  of  meagre  traditions. 

It  is  thus  manifest  that  at  various  periods  and  with  reference  to 
different  localities  the  Chinese  have  linked  different  ideas  with  the  word 
se-se,  that  the  later  accounts  are  of  no  value  in  its  determination  as 
regards  the  earlier  periods  of  the  Leu-ch'ao  and  T'ang,  and  that  even  for 
the  T'ang  epoch  a  clear  distinction  must  be  made  between  the  se-se 
of  the  countries  outside  of  China  and  those  within  the  Chinese  dominion. 

The  various  texts  of  the  Pei  shi,  Sui  shu  and  T'ang  shu  relating  to 
foreign  countries  go  to  prove  that  the  se-se  of  those  times  were  valuable 
jewels,  and  that  for  this  reason  the  word  can  hardly  denote  the  turquois. 
It  is  not  known  to  rne  on  what  authority  von  Krem:er  's  statement  of 
turquois  mines  in  Ferghana  rests  (his  book  is  unfortunately  not  accessi- 
ble to  me),  but  I  should  think  that  he  could  not  be  regarded  as  an 

assertion  would  be  valueless,  as  he  simply  reproduces  literary  reminiscences,  but  does 
not  show  any  actual  knowledge  of  the  stones  of  which  he  is  spekking.  We  might 
well  make  bold  to  say  that  Li  Shi-ch6n  (as  most  of  his  countrymen  during  the  Ming 
period)  had  never  seen  a  turquois.  In  the  official  Statutes  of  the  Ming  Dynasty 
(Ta  Ming  hui  tien)  jade,  agate,  coral,  amber,  pearls,  and  ivory  are  frequently  men- 
tioned in  connection  with  state  paraphernalia  and  court  costume,  but  turquois  is 
conspicuous  by  its  absence. 

^  Also  in  the  great  cyclopaedia  T^u  shu  tsi  ch'^ng,  si-se  are  classified  among  pre- 
cious stones  (pao  shi),  likewise  in  the  T'ien  kung  k'ai  wu,  a  work  on  technology  by 
Sung  Ying-sing,  of  1637  (Ch.  18,  p.  58  b).  Prof.  Hirth,  in  his  above  note,  alludes 
to  this  book  after  an  extract  in  the  T'u  shu  tsi  ch'ing.  As  an  edition  of  this  very 
scarce  and  valuable  work  printed  1771  in  Japan  is  in  my  possession  (despite  diligent 
search  I  could  not  find  any  in  China),  I  may  say  that  it  contains  nothing  to  elucidate 
the  subject;  it  simply  says  that  of  green  stones  there  are  si-si  beads,  emeralds  {tsie- 
mu-lu),  rubies  (ya-ku)  and  the  various  kinds  of  k'ung  ts'ing  (on  the  latter  see  F.  de 
M6ly,  Les  lapidaires  chinois,  p.  112,  Paris,  1896).  The  author,  accordingly,  repeats 
bookish  reminiscences  but  had  no  actual  knowledge  of,  or  experience  with  these  stones 
which  are  to  him  mere  names.  It  is  certainly  essential  to  determine  in  investigations 
of  this  kind,  whether  a  Chinese  author  speaks  of  an  object  from  direct  knowledge  of 
it,  or  merely  reproduces  the  statements  of  his  predecessors.  In  other  words,  we  must 
adopt  sound  and  critical  philological  methods  before  venturing  any  conclusions.  It 
is  manifest  that  the  statements  of  the  Ming  and  Ts'ing  authors  concerning  si-sS  are 
■of  a  purely  bookish  character  and  weak  echoes  of  the  past,  but  have  no  value  what- 
ever for  the  study  of  the  question  as  to  what  the  si-sS  of  the  past  really  were. 


36     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

authority  on  mineralogtcal  matters;  presumably  he  refers  to  the  Arabic 
authors  alluded  to  by  Max  Bauer  (see  below).  I  do  not  doubt  that,  as 
stated  by  Hirth,  turquois  is  found  in  modem  times  in  the  region  of 
Ferghana,  although  the  evidence  which  I  am  able  to  find  is  rather  slight.^ 
On  the  other  hand  it  is  asserted  by  Bauer  also  that  turquois  occurs  in 
situ  in  the  region  of  Samarkand.^  Bauer  does  not  state  his  source, 
and  I  have  no  means  of  tracing  it;  the  "unknown  time"  when  the  tur- 
quois mines  were  operated  there  is  a  rather  unsatisfactory  feature,  and 
it  would  certainly  remain  to  be  proved  that  turquois  was  quarried  in 
that  region  as  early  as  the  T'ang  period  (618-906).  But  granting  the 
benefit  of  the  doubt  to  those  arguing  on  the  opposite  side,  the  possi- 
bility should  be  admitted  that  in  the  one  passage  of  the  T'ang  shu 
indicated  by  Hirth  and  Chavannes  the  word  se-se  could  denote  the 

1  The  opinion  that  turquois  occurs  in  Ferghana  is  largely  based  on  a  remark  of 
H.  Lansdell  (Russian  Central  Asia,  p.  515,  London,  1885)  who  says  that  turquois 
is  found  at  Mount  Karumagar,  24  miles  N.  E.  of  Khojend;  but  Lansdell  was  an 
amateur  traveler  of  journaHstic  tendencies  in  whose  observations  little  confidence 
can  be  placed.  The  Armenian  lapidarium  translated  into  Russian  by  K.  P.  Pat-' 
KANOV  (Precious  Stones,  their  Names  and  Properties  according  to  the  Notions  of  the 
Armenians,  p.  48,  St.  Petersburg,  1873)  mentions  Khojend  as  a  source  for  turquois. 
On  the  other  hand  it  should  not  be  passed  over  with  silence  that  one  of  the  best 
explorers  of  Ferghana  who  has  given  a  detailed  description  of  the  region,  Ch.  E.  de 
UjFALVY  (Le  Kohistan,  le  Ferghanah  et  Kouldja,  p. 'Si,  Paris,  1878)  remarks  on  its 
mineral  resources  as  follows:  "In  the  mountains  of  Ferghana  are  found  iron,  lead, 
charcoal,  quartz,  kali,  amethyst  crystals,  rock-crystal,  silver,  mica  schist,  sulphur, 
etc.  (a  cave  near  Aravan  has  stalactites  and  stalagmites).  In  the  district  of  Andid- 
jan  there  are  rich  sources  of  naptha  of  excellent  quality,  and  also  sulphurous  sources 
at  38°  Celsius."  He  does  not  mention  turquois.  Turquoises  are  still  utilized  by  the 
Sart  in  and  around  Tashkend  for  the  decoration  of  silver  necklaces,  bridles,  girdle- 
clasps,  etc.  (see,  for  example,  H.  Moser,  A  travers  I'Asie  centrale,  pp.  104-7,  Paris, 
1885).  My  colleague  Dr.  Karutz  at  the  Museum  of  Lubeck,  who  has  traveled  ex- 
tensively in  Russian  Turkistan,  writes  me  that  he  encountered  two  areas  in  which 
turquois  is  diffused,  among  the  Tatars  of  Russia  and  among  the  Sart  of  Turkistan, 
but  that  he  did  not  find  it  among  the  Turkmen  and  the  Kirghiz;  he  therefore  con- 
cludes that  it  occurs  only  in  the  town  population,  but  not  among  the  nomads  of  the 
steppe;  he  learned  nothing  about  indigenous  sources  of  the  stone,  but  is  convinced 
that  it  is  imported  from  Afghanistan.  There  is,  he  says,  a  rumor  to  the  effect  tliat 
turquois  is  found  in  the  Kirghiz  steppe,  but  he  doubts  the  fact,  as  it  is  not  employed 
by  the  Kirghiz  in  their  ornaments. 

^  Max  Bauer  (Precious  Stones,  p.  396)  has  the  following  note  on  turquois  in  this 
region:  "It  is  stated  that  there  are  turquois  mines,  yielding  mostly  green  stones, 
further  to  the  north-west,  beyond  the  Persian  frontier  between  Herat  and  western 
Turkistan.  According  to  the  statements  of  ancient  [?]  Arabic  writers,  the  precious  stone 
was  found  at  Khojend,  from  whence  came  also  the  green  callais  {callaina)  of  Pliny, 
now  considered  to  be  identical  with  turquois  [this  is  extremely  doubtful :  note  of  the 
writer.  On  p.  392  Bauer  says:  "Whether  the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  tur- 
quois is  doubtful."].  Other  localities  in  the  same  region  have  also  been  recorded; 
for  example,  in  1887  in  the  mountain  range  Kara-Tube,  fifty  kilometres  from  Samar- 
kand. The  turquois  occurs  here  in  limonite  and  quartzose  slate,  and  the  place  was, 
at  some  unknown  time,  the  scene  of  mining  operations.  Finds  of  turquois  have  been 
made  in  the  same  region  in  our  own  time;  for  example,  in  the  Syr  Darya  country  in 
the  Kuraminsk  district  (in  the  Kara  Mazar  mountains),  and  also  in  the  Karkaralinsk 
district  in  the  Kirghiz  Steppes  (Semipalatinsk  territory  of  Siberia).  These  and  other 
occurrences  in  the  same  region  have  no  commercial  importance  and  need  no  further 
consideration." 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  37 

turquois,  if  the  mineralogical  condition  of  the  present  time,  provided 
the  fact  is  correct,  will  be  admitted  as  evidence/  It  cannot,  however, 
be  admitted  as  already  demonstrated,  that  in  other  early  passages  the 
turquois  is  disguised  under  the  word  se-se ;  there  is  no  forcible  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  such  a  guess  (supposition  it  can  hardly  be  called) ;  on 
the  contrary,  the  valuation  and  utilization  of  the  stone  speak  strongly 
against  it. 

Another  moot  question  is  the  historical  position  of  the  turquois  in 
those  regions  which  are  covered  by  the  word  se-se;  there  is  no  great 
antiquity  and,  accordingly,  no  archaeology  of  the  turquois  in  western 
Asia.  It  does  not  appear  in  Assyria,  Babylonia  or  ancient  Persia;  it 
hardly  plays  any  role  in  Greek  and  Roman  antiquity.^  Egypt'  is  the 
only  country  in  the  Old  World  which  may  lay  claim  to  a  great  antiquity 
in  the  utilization  of  the  turquois  mined  in  the  Sinai  Mountains,  and  some 
objects  inlaid  with  turquois  mosaic  and  assigned  to  the  Siberian  bronze 
period,  though  neither  their  locality  nor  their  time  is  exactly  ascertained, 
may  be  of  considerable  age  (see  p.  58).     So  far  as  I  know,  no  really 

1  Personally  I  am  not  convinced.  It  will  be  seen  below  that  the  first  actual 
knowledge  of  the  turquois  dawns  upon  the  Chinese  as  late  as  the  Mongol  period  when 
a  newly  coined  word  for  it  appears,  and  when  the  word  se-se  continues  with  quite  a 
different  meaning.  It  is  inconceivable  to  me  that  the  knowledge  of  an  object,  when 
it  is  once  acquired  (and  particularly  of  an  object  so  striking  to  the  eye  as  a  turquois), 
can  ever  become  lost.  The  tradition  of  the  Mongol  period  is  entirely  cut  off  from 
that  of  the  T'ang,  the  two  not  being  interrelated.  If  the  se-se  of  Ferghana  were  the 
turquois,  why  are  the  se-sS  objects  occurring  in  China  in  the  T'ang  period  not  so 
described  that  a  plain  conclusion  as  to  this  material  can  be  drawn?  But  they  were 
evidently  ijiade  of  some  building-stone.  For  this  reason  the  question  may  be  justly 
raised  whether  the  account  of  the  T'ang  shu  in  regard  to  the  mountain  near  Tash- 
kend  where  s^-s^  is  produced  really  possesses  great  importance;  it  is  somewhat 
vague,  the  name  of  the  mountain  not  even  being  given;  the  report  is  evidently 
reproduced  from  hearsay.  The  earlier  accounts  of  the  Pei  shi  and  Sui  shu,  which 
ascribe  these  jewels  to  an  adjacent  region  without  making  reference  to  a  definite  local- 
ity, seem  to  me  to  be  more  to  the  point.  All  that  can  be  safely  laid  down  therefore  is 
that  se-se  occurred  in  the  territory  of  Ferghana  and  Sogdiana  during  the  time  from 
the  fifth  to  the  seventh  century.  In  view  of  the  other  texts  quoted  above  which 
must  be  equally  taken  into  account  in  a  consideration  of  this  question,  there  is  no 
reason  to  place  all  emphasis  on  this  one  statement;  s^-s^  occurred  in  Persia  and 
Syria,  and  were  traded  in  Khotan.  Thus,  they  held  the  territory  of  western  Asia 
and  the  dominion  of  the  Western  Turks.  And  as  will  be  seen  farther  on,  they  were 
brought  over  to  China  by  Mariicheans  or  Nestorians. 

^  H.  Blumner,  Technologie  und  Terminologie  der  Gewerbe  und  Kiinste  bei 
Griechen  und  Romern,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  248  (Leipzig,  1884).  It  is  still  more  doubtful  to 
me  than  to  Blumner  if  the  callaina  or  callais  of  Pliny,  as  has  been  supposed,  refers  to 
the  turquois;  the  evidence  favoring  this  theory. is  extremely  weak;  Pliny's  statement 
that  the  stone  is  produced  in  Farther  India  or  beyond  India  and  in  the  Caucasus 
(nascitur  post  aversa  Indiae,  apud  incolas  Caucasi)  where  we  positively  know  that 
no  turquois  is  found  proves  that  he  does  not  speak  of  the  turquois.  Compare  p.  2, 
note  2.  "Turquois,  hardly  ever  used  by  the  Greeks,  was  rarely  employed  by 
Graeco-Roman  artists"  (D.  Osborne,  Engraved  Gems,  p.  284,  New  York,  1912). 

'  The  ancient  Egyptian  turquois-mines  in  Wadi  Maghara  and  Wadi  Sidreh  in  the 
Sinaitic  Peninsula  were  first  discovered  in  1849  by  Major  C.  Macdonald,  then  visited 
by  H.  Brugsch  (Wanderung  nach  den  Tiirkisminen  und  der  Sinai-Halbinsel,  Leipzig, 
1866),  and  examined  anew  in  1905  by  W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie. 


38     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

ancient  carved  object  of  turquois  has  as  yet  come  to  light  in  Persia  or 
Turkistan/  while  a  great  variety  of  gems  appears  in  the  Persian  intag- 
lios, particularly  in  those  of  the  Sassanian  epoch  (226-642  a.  d.)  among 
which  turquois  is  strikingly  absent.^  It  is  no  less  because  of  this  lack 
of  archaeological  evidence  that  I  hesitate  to  believe  in  the  proposed 
identification  of  se-se  with  turquois,  as  regards  the  older  accounts  of  the 
Pei  sht  and  Sui  shu. 

Furthermore,  the  important  question  arises, —  what  is  the  antiquity 
of  the  turquois  in  Persia?  When  were  the  turquois  mines  of  Persia 
first  operated,  at  what  time  did  turquois  begin  to  play  an  active  r61e 
in  the  culture  and  life  of  the  Persian  people?  It  is  evident  that  all  this 
is  a  matter  of  consequence  for  our  se-se  problem.  I  am  certainly  not 
competent  to  decide  this  question,  the  final  solution  of  which  must  come 
to  us  from  one  of  our  co-workers  in  the  Arabic  or  Persian  field;  but  even 
to  an  outsider  who  has  merely  a  scant  knowledge  of  this  subject  some 
observations  spontaneously  present  themselves  which  render  him  very 
cautious  or  rather  skeptic  in  assuming,  as  has.so  often  been  done  without 
any  substantial  evidence,  a  considerable  antiquity  for  the  acquaintance 
of  the  Persians  with  the  turquois.  There  is,  first. of  all,  no  ancient 
Iranian  word  for  the  turquois.  Avestan  literature,  as  far  as  I  know, 
makes  no  alkision  to  it.  A  great  authority,  W.  Geiger,^  emphasizes 
the  fact  that  the  minerals  characteristic  of  Iran,  as  turquois,  ruby, 
lapis  lazuli,  are  not  even  mentioned  in  the  A  vesta.  The  lack  of  an 
Iranian  word  for  it,  with  the  additional  absence  of  an  ancient  Sanskrit 
word,  renders  the  supposition  highly  probable  that  neither  the  Aryans 
nor  the  Iranians  had  any  knowledge  of  turquois.  The  word  ferozah  is 
New  Persian,  consequently  not  older  than  the  ninth  century;  in  Middle 
Persian  or  Pahlavl,  the  language  of  the  Arsacids  and  Sassanians,  no 
word  for  the  turquois  seems  to  be  preserved,  unless  it  is  represented  by 

1  In  a  collection  of  ancient  intaglios  found  in  the  environment  of  Khotan  and 
described  by  A.  F.  R.  Hoernle  (A  Report  on  the  British  Collection  of  Antiquities 
from  Central  Asia,  pt.  I,  p.  38,  Calcutta,  1899)  objects  of  spinel  and  lapis  lazuli  occur, 
but  none  of  turquois.  F.  Grenard  (Mission  scientifique  dans  la  Haute  Asie,  Vol. 
Ill,  p.  143,  Paris,  1898)  found  in  a  cave  near  Khotan  a  wooden  image  with  eyes  formed 
by  rubies.  In  the  famous  treasure  discovered  in  1877  on  the  northern  bank  of  the 
Oxus  described  by  A.  Cunningham  (Relics  from  Ancient  Persia,  Journal  Asiatic 
Society  of  Bengal,  1881,  pp.  151-186)  and  O.  M.  Dalton  (The  Treasure  of  the  Oxus, 
London,  1905),  despite  a  great  number  of  ornaments,  no  turquois  has  been  traced. 
Also  in  the  works  on  Persian  art  (M.  Dieulafoy,  L'art  antique  de  la  Perse;  Perrot 
and  Chipiez,  History  of  Art  in  Persia,  London,  1892)  no  reference  is  made  to  turquois. 

^  Compare  the  Sassanian  precious  stones  as  enumerated,  for  instance,  in  Ed. 
Baumann,  AUgemeine  Geschichte  der  bildenden  Kiinste,  Vol.  I,  pt.  2,  p.  538,  G. 
Steindorff's  Description  of  Sassanian  Gems  in  Mitteilungen  aus  den  Orientalischen 
Sammlungen  des  Berliner  Museums,  No.  4,  and  J.  Menant,  Cachets  orientaux, 
Intailles  sassanides  {Cat.  Coll.  de  Clercq,  Vol.  II,  pt.  i,  Paris,  1890).  In  none  of  these 
publications  is  turquois  pointed  out. 

'  Ostiranische  Kultur  im  Altertum,  p.  147  (Erlangen,  1887). 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  39 

the  older  form  firuzag  handed  down  by  the  lapidarium  of  Pseudo- 
Aristotle  ^  and  al-Beruni.  In  questioning  the  archaeologists,  we  meet 
a  slight  piece  of  evidence.  In  the  kurgans  of  Anau  ^  beads  of  turquois 
together  with  those  of  carnelian  and  lapis  lazuli  have  been  discovered, 
and  as  it  is  asserted,  "in  the  earliest  culture  strata."  They  were  used 
as  burial  gifts  with  the  skeleton  of  a  child,  and  it  is  concluded  in  the 
publication  referred  to  that  they  must  have  come  from  Persia  where 
turquois  is  known  both  to  the  south  of  Anau  and  farther  eastward  on  the 
plateau.  But  the  chronology  of  these  antiquities  of  Anau  is  somewhat 
uncertain,  and  by  no  means  seems  to  me  to  be  settled  beyond  doubt; 
aside  from  this,  the  deduction  that  the  Anau  turquoises,  granted  that 
they  are  what  they  are  presented  to  be,  must  be  of  Persian  origin  is 
not  at  all  forceful,  and  not  proved.  They  mjy  have  come  as  well  from 
Siberia  where  turquois  was  employed  during  the  bronze  age  (p.  58), 
though  the  locality  where  the  ancient  Siberian  turquois  was  mined  is 
not  yet  known,  or  (why  not?)  from  Tibet,  or  from  some  forgotten  mine 
in  Turkistan.  Reverting  to  Persia  and  glancing  over  the  pages  of  the 
history  of  the  Sassanians  (226-642  a.  d.)  ^  we  look  in  vain  for  any  testi- 
mony that  turquois  formed  an  essential  constituent  of  the  culture  of  the 
period.  The  only  item  I  am  able  to  trace  is  a  statement  made  by 
A.  Christensen  ^  to  the  effect  that  King  Khosrau  II  (590  a.  d.)  pos- 
sessed a  game  of  backgammon  (nard),  the  men  of  which  were  carved 
from  coral  and  turquoises.  With  respect  to  these  turquois  carvings 
some  doubts  may  be  entertained,  particularly  for  the  reason  that  the 
Persian  mineralogist  Muhammed  Ibn  Mansur  who  wrote  about  1300 
in  the  translation  of  Gen.  Schindler  ^  says  that  in  the  environment  of 

1  J.  RusKA,  Das  Steinbuch  des  Aristoteles,  p.  43  (Heidelberg,  1912). 

2  R.  PuMPELLY,  Explorations  in  Turkestan,  Vol.  I,  pp.  60,  64,  199  (Washington, 
1908). 

^  Th.  Noldeke,  Geschichte  der  Perser  und  Araber  zur  Zeit  der  Sasaniden  (Leiden, 
1879);  Noldeke,  Aufsatze  zur  persischen  Geschichte  (Leipzig,  1887);  M.  K.  Pat- 
KANIAN,  Essai  d'une  histoire  de  la  dynastie  des  Sassanides  {Journal  asiatique,  1866, 
pp.  101-238);  J.  Marquart,  Untersuchungen  zur  Geschichte  von  Eran  (Gottingen 
und  Leipzig,  1896,  1905);  K.  A.  Inostrantsev,  Sassanian  Studies  (in  Russian,  St. 
Petersburg,  1909).  There  is  certainly  no  doubt  that  the  ancient  Persian  kings  and 
subsequently  the  Sassanians  possessed  quantities  of  precious  stones  in  their  treasuries 
and  graves,  but  all  indications  are  lacking  as  to  what  they  were.  Arrian  (Anabasis 
VI,  29)  mentions  gold  earrings  set  with  precious  stones  as  part  of  the  treasures 
hoarded  in  the  tomb  of  Cyrus  at  Pasargadae.  Compare  further  M.  Dieulafoy, 
L'art  antique  de  la  Perse,  Vol.  V,  p.  137,"  and  O.  M.  Dalton,  The  Treasure  of  the 
Oxus,  p.  9. 

^  L'empire  des  Sassanides,  le  peuple,  I'^tat,  la  cour,  p.  105  (Copenhague,  1907). 
The  source  for  this  statement  is  H.  Zotenberg,  Histoire  des  rois  des  Perses,  p.  700 
(Paris,  1900);  but  the  Arabic  work  (edited  and  translated  by  Zotenberg)  written  by 
al-Ta'alibi  (961-1038)  can  hardly  claim  any  historical  authenticity;  it  is  purely 
legendary  in  character  and  a  counterpart  to  Firdausl's  Shah-nameh. 

*  Jahrbuch  der  k.  k.  Geologischen  Reichsanstalt,  Vol.  XXXVI,  Wien,  1886,  p.  310. 


40      Field  Museum  of  Natural  History — Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

Nlshapur  is  found  a  stone  similar  to  turquois  from  which  chess-men  are 
made,  but  that  its  color  soon  disappears.  Thus,  also  the  backgammon 
men  of  Khosrau,  if  at  all  the  report  may  lay  claim  to  historical  authen- 
ticity, which  is  doubtful,  may  have  been  worked  from  this  stone  material 
which  merely  had  an  outward  resemblance  to  turquois.^  We  move  on 
safer  ground  in  coming  down  to  the  Arabic  authors  of  the  middle  ages ; 
they  indeed  are  the  first  to  bring  to  our  notice  the  mining  of  turquois 
in  Nlshapur.^  Al-Kindi,  who  lived  in  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, as  quoted  by  Ibn  al-Baitar,^  briefly  mentions  the  turquois  without 
alluding  to  Persia,  nor  does  the  oldest  source  for  Arabic  mineralogy, 
the  lapidarium,  wrongly  connected  with  the  name  of  Aristotle,''  which 
according  to  Ruska  was  composed  before  the  middle  of  the  ninth 
century.  The  fact  that  Persia  is  not  alluded  to  by  these  two  authors 
is  not  decisive ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  highly  probable  that  they  had  the 
Persian  turquois  in  their  minds,  for  they  designate  it  by  the  older 
Persian  iorvafiruzag,  and  as  pointed  out  by  Ruska,^  it  is  noticeable  that 
in  the  text  translated  by  him  Persia,  Khorasan,  India  and  China  are 
most  frequently  cited  among  the  localities  for  the  minerals  described 
in  it. 

The  earliest  allusion  to  the  turquois-mines  of  Nishapur  which  I  am 
able  to  find  is  made  by  Ibn  Haukal  (978  a.  d.),  who  based  his  account 
on  Istakhri  (951).     He  reports  as  follows:  ^ 

"The  villages  and  the  towns  in  the  plain  around  Nishapur  are  numerous  and 
well  populated.  In  the  mountains  of  Nishapur  and  Tus  are  mines,  in  which  are 
found  brass,  iron,  turquoises,  santalum,  and  the  precious  stone  called  malachite; 
they  are  said  to  contain  also  gold  and  beryl." 

Al-Beruni  (973-1048)  seems  to  be  the  second  weighty  authority 
with  a  distinct  reference  to  Nishapur  by  stating  that  the  turquois  is 
brought  from  the  mountain  Ansar,  one  of  the  mountains  of  Riwand  near 

1  J.  DE  Morgan  (Mission  scientifique  en  Perse,  Vol.  IV,  p.  320,  Paris,  1897) 
figures  a  bas-relief  of  Takht-i  Bostan  representing  Khosrau  II  Parwez  (591H528)  in 
full  armor  on  horseback  and  interprets  the  medial  row  of  stones  inlaid  in  the  sheath 
of  the  sword  as  turquoises.  There  is  no  color  displayed  on  this  stone  bas-relief,  and 
this  view  seems  wholly  arbitrary;  it  is  rejected  as  fantastic  by  F.  Sarre  and  S. 
Herzfeld,  Iranische  Felsreliefs,  p.  203  (Berlin,  1910). 

^  Name  of  a  city  and  province  in  northern  Khorasan.  The  city  was  founded  by 
Shapur  II  (309-379)  whose  name  forms  the  second  element  in  the  name  of  the  city. 
The  Old  Persian  name  is  New-Shapur,  the  word  new  meaning  good.  The  New 
Persian  form  is  Neshdpur,  at  present  Nishapur,  Arabic  Naisdbur  (compare  Noldeke, 
Geschichte  der  Perser  und  Araber  zur  Zeit  der  Sasaniden,  pp.  59,  67;  an  interesting 
sketch  of  the  history  of  the  city  is  given  by  A.  V.  W.  Jackson,  From  Constantinople 
to  the  Home  of  Omar  Khayyam,  pp.  246-260,  New  York,  191 1). 

^  L.  Leclerc,  /.  c,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  51. 

*  J.  Ruska,  Das  Steinbuch  des  Aristoteles,  p.  151. 
^L.  c,  p.  43. 

*  A.  V.  W.  Jackson,  /.  c,  p.  254. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  41 

that  city.^  His  contemporary  al-Ta'alibi  (961-1038)  expands  likewise 
on  the  turquois  of  Nlshapur.^  Then  we  have  the  testimony  of  Tifashl 
whose  work  on  precious  stones  was  written  toward  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century  (the  author  died  in  1253)  who  says  anent  the  turquois 
that  it  originates  from  a  mine  situated  in  a  mountain  of  Nishapur 
whence  it  is  exported  into  all  cotmtries.'  This  seems  to  be  the  first 
clear  statement  of  the  fact  that  the  Persian  turquois  of  Nishapur  had 
entered  into  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Can  it  be  mere  chance  now 
that  we  find  the  first  record  of  the  turquois  of  this  place  in  China  in 
1366  (p.  56),  and  that  the  Persian  turquois  makes  its  d^but  in  India 
only  during  the  Mohammedan  epoch?  Finally  we  come  to  the  Persian 
mineralogy  of  Muhammed  Ibn  Mansur  above  referred  to  which  ac- 
cording to  ScHiNDLER  was  written  about  1300,  according  to  Ruska  *  in 
the  thirteenth  century;  still  later  is  al-Akfani  who  died  in  1347-48,  and 
who  in  his  treatise  on  precious  stones  deals  also  with  the  turquois.^ 
There  is  also  the  evidence  furnished  by  Marco  Polo  ^  who  passed 

1  E.  Wiedemann,  Der  Islam,  Vol.  II,  1911,  p.  352. 

^  WiEDEM.\NN,  Zur  Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  242  (Erlangen,  1912). 

'  L.  Leclerq,  /.  c. 

*  L.  c,  p.  31.  J.  V.  H.\MMER  has  translated  an  extract  from  this  work  in  Fund- 
gruhen  des  Orients,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  126-142.  Wien,  1818;  the  text  has  not  yet  been  edited. 
Compare  Wiedemann,  /.  c,  p.  208. 

*  Edited  by  P.  L.  Cheikho  (Al-Machriq,  Vol.  XI,  1908,  pp.  751-765).  Com- 
pare Wiedemann,  Mitt.  d.  deutschen  Ges.  fur  Geschichte  d.  Med.  und  Nat.,  Vol.  VIII, 
pp.  509-511.  Translation  by  Wiedemann,  Zur  Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  225  (Er- 
langen, 1912).  Bretschneider  (China  Review,  Vol.  V,  1876,  p.  124)  identifies  the 
Persian  vase  "reflecting  what  is  going  on  in  the  world"  (mentioned  in  the  Annals  of 
the  Ming  Dynasty)  with  the  vase  of  Djemshid  frequently  spoken  of  by  the  Persian 
poets  and  said  by  Rashid-eddin  (1247-13 18)  to  have  been  made  of  turquois.  This 
identification  can  hardly  be  correct,  if  the  tradition  holds  good  that  the  Persian  vase 
had  "the  property  of  reflecting  light  in  such  a  way  that  all  affairs  of  the  world  could 
be  seen."  Turquois  is  dense,  opaque,  not  at  all  transparent  (in  composition  a  hy- 
drous phosphate  of  aluminum  containing  water,  20.6  per  cent,  alumina,  46.8  per  cent, 
and  phosphorous  oxide,  32.6  per  cent),  and  thus  in  composition  as  well  as  opacity, 
differs  from  most  other  gems  (O.  C.  Farrington,  Gems  and  Gem  Minerals,  p.  170, 
Chicago,  1903). 

*  Yule  and  Cordier,  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo,  Vol.  I,  p.  90.  Marco  Polo's 
itinerary  in  southern  Persia  has  been  elucidated  by  Gen.  A.  Houtum  Schindler 
{Journal  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1881,  pp.  1-8,  and  1898,  pp.  43-46),  further  by  G. 
Le  Strange  (The  Cities  of  Kirman,  ibid.,  1901,  pp.  281-290).  On  p.  2  of  the  first 
of  these  papers,  Schindler  has  devoted  a  note  to  the  turquois-mines  of  the  province 
of  Kerman,  stating  the  various  localities  where  they  are  found;  at  a  place,  twelve 
miles  from  Shehr-i-Babek,  are  seven  old  shafts,  now  for  a  long  period  not  worked, 
the  stones  of  these  mines  being  of  a  very  pale  blue,  and  having  no  great  value.  The 
inferiority  of  the  Kerman  turquois  is  emphasized  also  by  the  Chinese  author  T'ao 
Tsung-i  in  1366  (see  p.  57).  And  then,  one  will  make  us  believe  that  the  turquois 
should  be  recognized  in  Pliny's  callais  "the  best  sort  of  which  occurs  in  Carmania," 
as  if  there  were  no  other  stones  to  be  found  in  the  big  country  Carmania,  and  as  if  it 
had  been  proved  that  turquois  was  mined  there  in  the  first  century.  But  Marco 
Polo  evidently  is  the  first  authority  with  such  a  report,  and  from  Pliny  to  Marco  Polo 
there  is  a  far  cry.  The  Arabic  author  al-Ta 'alibi  (961-1038)  expressly  states  that  . 
turquois  is  found  only  near  NishapQr  (Wiedemann,  Zur  Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  242). 
Major  P.  M.  Sykes  (Historical  Notes  on  South-East  Persia,  Journal  Royal  Asiatic 


42     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

through  Persia  in  1294  and  says  of  the  kingdom  of  Kerman  that  the 
stones  called  turquoises  are  produced  there  in  great  abundance;  they 
are  found  in  the  mountains,  where  they  are  extracted  from  the  rocks. 
Gen.  A.  Houtum  Schindler  ^  to  whom  we  owe  an  excellent  description 
from  the  geological  viewpoint  of  the  Persian  turquois-mines  has  not 
solved  the  problem  as  to  the  antiquity  of  the  mining  operations;  the 
late  report  of  Ibn  Mansur  is  the  only  document  quoted  by  him.^  In 
one  passage  (p.  307)  we  read  the  general  remark:  "Seit  Jahrtausenden 
ist  in  diesen  Gruben  gearbeitet  worden,"  which  is  no  more  than  a 
personal  impression.  We  live  in  a  skeptic  age  and  are  not  willing  to 
believe  so  easily  in  millenniums,  if  no  evidence  of  hard  and  cold  facts 
is  advanced.  Every  human  activity  is  defined  by  time;  language 
and  history  seem  to  militate  against  such  an  unfounded  surmise.' 
These  observations  on  the  history  of  turquois  in  Persia  form  another 
reason  why  I  am  not  at  all  sanguine  in  accepting  the  explanation  of 
se-se  by  turquois  when  such  early  texts  as  Pei  shi,  Sui  shu,  and  T'ang 
shu  come  into  question  and  refer  to  a  time  when  it  must  be  doubted, 
at  least  for  the  present,  that  turquois  was  known  in  Persia  or  had  any 
significance  in  her  culture.  The  Chinese  accounts  plainly  refer  to 
Sassanian  Persia,  while  all  references  to  turquois  in  Persia,  at  least  in 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  are  post-Sassanian. 

In  our  attempts  to  identify  the  names  of  stones  mentioned  in  ancient 

Society,  1902,  p.  942)  who  has  studied  the  archaeology  of  the  Kerman  region  reports 
on  the  tombs:  "In  each  tomb  were  a  yellow  jar  of  pottery,  round  bowls  of  three  sizes, 
a  pair  of  bracelets,  two  pins,  and  some  arrow  and  spear  heads,  all  of  which  were  of 
bronze  except  the  vessels.  In  addition,  two  or  three  carnelian  gems  were  found,  and 
some  small  silver  earrings  and  bracelets.  The  custom  of  placing  a  carnelian  in  a 
dead  man's  mouth,  with  the  names  of  the  twelve  Imam  engraved  on  it,  is  one  that 
obtains  nowadays."  There  is  no  report  of  a  find  of  turquoises  in  a  grave  of  the 
Kerman  region. 

1  Die  Gegend  zwischen  Sabzwar  und  Meschhed  in  Persien  (Jahrbuch  der  k.  k. 
geologischen  Reichsanstalt,  Vol.  XXXVI,  pp.  303-314,  Wien,  1886). 

^  When  Ibn  Mansur  says  that  the  best  mine  of  those  at  Nishapur  is  the  one  dis- 
covered by  Isaac,  the  father  of  Israel,  and  hence  called  Isaac's  mine,  this  is  certainly 
a  legend  without  historical  value.  The  account  of  Ibn  Manstir  seems  to  be  pieced 
together  from  different  sources;  the  lapidarium  of  Pseudo- Aristotle  is  evidently 
utilized  (for  example,  in  the  statement  that  turquois  is  light  and  brilliant  in  clear 
weather,  but  dim  and  dull  when  the  sky  is  clouded).  According  to  Ruska  (/.  c, 
p.  35) ,  matter  and  arrangement  of  his  work  largely  depends  on  Tifashl.  Regarding  the 
Chinese,  Ibn  MansQr  remarks  that  they  like  the  tarmaleh  (a  word  queried  by  Schind- 
ler), turquoises  intersected  by  other  stone,  and  employ  these  for  the  adornment  of 
their  idols  and  women.  This  is  apparently  an  error  and  should  read  "Tibetans" 
instead  of  Chinese  (compare  p.  13).  Travelers  who  visited  the  mines  are  quoted 
by  A.  V.  W.  Jackson  (/.  c,  p.  259). 

^  The  last  (eleventh)  edition  of  the  Encyclopcedia  Britannica  gives  two  items  of 
information  of  a  contradictory  character.  In  Vol.  XIX  (p.  710)  mention  is  made  of 
Madan,  32  miles  N.  W.  of  the  city  of  Nishapar,  "where  the  famous  mines  are  which 
have  supplied  the  world  with  turquoises  for  at  least  2,000  years."  A  more  moderate 
attitude  is  observed  in  Vol.  XXVII  (p.  483)  where  it  is  said:  "In  Persia  the  turquois 
mines  have  been  worked  for  .at  least  eight  centuries." 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois,  43 

records  we  must  never  lose  sight  of  the  plain  facts  of  archaeology, 
history,  and  mineralogy.  Taking  a  broader  view  of  the  subject  we  find 
that  ruby  and  lapis  lazuli  have  been  the  most  prominent  jewels  of  Iran 
since  ancient  times,  and  that  both  are  well  attested  by  the  presence  of 
ancient  authentic  specimens  ^  and  traceable  to  a  well  defined  locality. 
The  great  jewel-producing  district  within  equal  proximity  of  Sogdiana, 
Persia  and  Khotan  was  the  region  of  Badakshan  (in  Chinese  P'a-to- 
shan),  north  of  the  Hindu  Kush  mountains,  well  known  to  the  Chinese 
during  the  T'ang  period,  and  to  every  modern  mineralogist  as  a  center 
for  the  production  of  two  precious  stones  —  lapis  lazuli  and  the  balas 
ruby  or  spinel.^    The  former  stone  entered  the  horizon  of  the  Chinese 

^  Compare  p.  38,  note  i. 

*  Max  Bauer,  Precious  Stones,  pp.  278,  ei  seq.  (German  original,  Edelsteinkunde, 
2nd  ed.,  p.  374) ;  O.  C.  Farrington,  Gems  and  Gem  Minerals,  pp.  96,  202.     T.  Wada 
(Beitrdge  zur  Mineralogie  von  Japan,  No.  i,  p.  20,  TokyO,  1905)  describes  spinels 
originating  from  China,  and  R.  Pumpelly  (Geological  Researches,  p.  118,  Smithsoni- 
an Contributions  to  Knowledge,  Vol.  XV,  Washington,  1867)  seems  to  have  encoun- 
tered spinels  in  Yun-nan.     Marco  Polo  (ed.  Yule  and  Cordier,  Vol.  I,  p.  157)  has 
described  the  ruby  and  the  lapis  lazuli  mines.     They  are  mentioned  by  the  Arab 
geographers  I§takri  and  Ibn  Haukal  in  the  tenth  century  (O.  M.  Dalton,  The 
Treasure  of  the  Oxus,  p.  9,  London,  1905).     Ibn  Haukal's  passage  has  been  translated 
by  Wiedemann  (Zur  Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  236,  Erlangen,  1912).     The  Arabic 
geographer  Yaqat.(i  179-1229)  and  the  historian  MaqrIzI  (1365-1442)  impart  notes 
on  the  balas  ruby  of  Badakshan  (Wiedemann,  ibid.,  pp.  235-6);  al-Ta "alibi  (961- 
1038)  mentions  it  {ibid.,  p.  243).     The  ancients  were  familiar  with  the  spinel  as 
evidenced  by  antique  intaglios,  but  its  designation  in  classical  times  is  not  known 
according  to  H.  BlUmner  (Technologic  und  Terminologie  der  Gewerbe  und  Kunste 
bei  Griechen  und  Romern,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  236,  Leipzig,  1884);  but  H.  O.  Lenz  (Minera- 
logie der  alten  Griechen  und  Romer,  p.  17,  Gotha,  1861)  includes  the  spinel  under  the 
Greek  word  anthrax  (likewise  Daremberg  and  Saglio,  Dictionnaire  des  antiquit^s 
grecs  et  romains.  Vol.  II,  p.  1462,  and  Pauly's  Realenzyklopadie,  Vol.  XIII,  col. 
1 108).     Arabic  and  Armenian  authors  relate,  a  legendary  tradition  that  at  the  time 
of  the  dynasty  of  the'Abbassides  a  terrific  earthquake  shattered  a  mountain  in 
Badakshan,  in  which  the  spinels  appeared  (K.  P.  Patkanov,  /.  c,  pp.  19-20).     The 
great  antiquity  of  the  mining  operations  in  Badakshan  is .  illustrated  by  the  wide 
diffusion  in  early  times  of  lapis  lazuli.     In  the  words  of  Marco  Polo,  that  of  Badak- 
shan is  the  finest  in  the  world;  Yule  (Vol.  I,  p.  162)  comments  that  the  mines  of 
Ldjwurd  (whence  VAzur  and  Lazuli)  have  been,  like  the  ruby  mines,  celebrated  for 
ages.     Max  Bauer  (Precious  Stones,  p.  442)  states  that  the  material  which  is  not 
sent  to  Bokhara  (whence  it  is  traded  to  Russia)  goes,  together  with  rubies  of  the  same 
region,  to  China  and  to  Persia,  and  that  the  lapis  lazuli  said  to  occur  in  these  countries, 
as  well  as  in  Little  Bokharia  and  Tibet,  has  probably  been  imported  from  Badakshan. 
Moreover,  according  to  this  author,  the  material  sold  in  other  parts  of  Asia,  for  ex- 
ample, in  Afghanistan,  Beluchistan,  and  India,  and  stated  by  travelers  to  occur  in 
those  regions,  in  all  probability  is  imported  from  the  locality  in  the  proximity  of  the 
Upper  Oxus;  the  lapis  lazuli  from  which  the  ancient  Egyptian  scarabs  were  cut,  as 
Bauer  says,  presumably  came  from  Badakshan,  as  did  also  the  material  much  used 
elsewhere  in  ancient  times.     The  early  use  of  lapis  lazuli  in  ancient  Babylonia  is  well 
attested  by  numerous  finds  (P.  S.  P.  Handcock,  Mesopotamian  Archaeology,  pp.  76, 
102,  315,  even  for  the  earliest  Sumerian  period,  p.  340)  and  the  mineralogical  analyses 
of  Heinrich  Fischer  (H.  Fischer  and  A.  Wiedemann,  Ueber  babylonische  Talis- 
mane,  p.  4,  Stuttgart,  1881).     It  is  interesting  to  note  among  the  beads  of  Sumerian 
necklaces  coral,  lapis  lazuli,  mother-o'-pearl,  and  agate  —  all  favorite  objects  of  the 
Tibetans,  to  the  exclusion  of  turquois,  which  evidently  belongs  to  a  much  more 
recent  stratum  of  culture  in  Asia.     The  origin  of  Babylonian  lapis  lazuli  seems  not 
yet  to  have  been  satisfactorily  established.     Fischer  suggested  Bokharia;  H.  Blum- 


44     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Antii.,  Vol.  XIII. 

at  the  T'ang  period,  and  likewise  from  the  regions  of  the  Western  Turks. ^ 
As  it  has  a  name  of  its  owfl  (kin  tsing),^  and  as  besides  it  no  other 

NER  (/.  c,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  275)  basing  his  opinion  on  Pliny's  statement  that  the  best  kina 
occurs  in  Media  (apud  Medos)  is  inclined  to  think  of  Tibet  where  it  is  found  at  present. 
This  fact  is  certainly  correct  (see  p.  17,  note  2),  but  Tibet  cannot  come  into  question 
in  the  times  of  antiquity,  and  it  seems  preferable,  at  least  for  the  present,  to  join  Max 
Bauer  in  the  opinion  that  the  mines  of  Badakshan  are  responsible  also  for  Babylonian 
lapis  lazuli.  Prehistoric  occurrence  of  lapis  lazuli  in  Beluchistan  is  mentioned  by 
NoETLiNG  {Zeitschrift  fiir  Ethnologic,  Vol.  XXX,  1898,  Verhandlungen,  p.  470);  in 
Armenia  by  Belck  and  Lehmann  {ibid,  p.  590).  R.  Lepsius  (Les  metaux  dans  les 
inscriptions  ^gyptiennes,  p.  31,  Paris,  1877)  derives  the  lapis  lazuli  used  by  the 
ancient  Egyptians  from  Badakshan.  As  to  India,  the  case  may  be  more  precisely 
made  out.  There,  the  stone  does  not  seem  to  be  indigenous.  G.  Watt  (A  Diction- 
ary of  the  Economic  Products  of  India,  Vol.  IV,  p.  587)  says:  "Though  not  known 
with  certainty  to  occur  in  India,  it  is  imported  into  the  country,  where  it  is  employed 
for  several  purposes."  The  Sanskrit  word  rdjavarta  or  lajavarta  (Hindustani  Idjward, 
Behar  Idjburud,  Guzerati  rajdvaral)  is  plainly  derived  from  Persian  Idzuward 
(L.  FiNOT,  Les  lapidaires  indiens,  p.  XVIII,  connects  it  with  Arabic  lazurd),  and  the 
five  names  enumerated  for  the  stone  in  the  Rajanighantu  (R.  Garbe,  Die  indischen 
Mineralien,  p.  90),  though  all  couched  in  a  Sanskrit  form  (with  the  meaning  "suitable 
for  a  king's  forehead,  forehead-jewel")  are  re-interpretations  based  on  that  foreign 
word  (the  Petersburg  Sanskrit  Dictionary,  smaller  edition,  has  still  another  composite 
name  suvarndbha).  Ta vernier  (ed.  by  V.  Ball,  Vol.  II,  p.  156,  London,  1889)  who 
wrote  in  1676  makes  a  somewhat  vague  statement:  "Towards  Tibet,  which  is 
identical  with  the  Caucasus  of  the  Ancients,  in  .the  territories  of  a  Rdja  beyond  the 
Kingdom  of  Kashmir,  there  are  three  mountains  close  to  one  another,  one  of  which 
produces  gold  of  excellent  quality,  another  grenat,  and  another  lapis."  The  editor 
Ball  is  inclined  to  think  that  the  lapis  mine  here  referred  to  is  near  Firgamu  in 
Badakshan.  Lapis  lazuli  occupies  a  place  in  Indian  antiquity,  particularly  among 
the  Buddhists,  but  this  subject  is  still  in  need  of  special  investigation. 

'  Chavannes,  Documents,  p.  159,  and  T'oung  Pao,  1904,  p.  66.  But  lapis  lazuli 
was  perhaps  known  to  the  Chinese  to  a  certain  extent  from  the  second  century  a.  d. 
(compare  F.  Hirth,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Ethnologic,  Vol.  XXI,  1889,  Verhandlungen,  p.  500, 
or  Chinesische  Studien,  p.  250).  Hirth  refers  to  the  "gold  girdles  set  with  blue 
stones  from  Hai-si"  presented  to  the  Chinese  Court  in  134  A.  d.  by  the  king  and 
minister  of  Kashgar,  further  to  a  definition  in  the  glossary  T'ung  su  wen  from  the 
end  of  the  second  century  where  the  expression  ' '  to  paint  the  eyebrows .' '  is  explained 
as  a  cosmetic  yielded  from  blue  stone  {ts'ing  shi)  where  ultramarine,  a  pigment  ob- 
tained from  lapis  lazuli,  is  evidently  in  question.  This  is  well  confirmed  by  the 
report  of  the  Sui  shu  on  the  country  of  Ts'ao  identified  by  Hirth  with  Badakshan  or 
the  plateau  of  the  Pamir  (an  identification  overlooked  by  Chavannes,  Documents, 
p.  130),  where  it  is  said  that  Ts'ao  produced  among  other  articles  ts'ing  tai,  that  is, 
ultramarine  for  cosmetic  purposes.  Hirth  does  not  state  the  fact  that  Badakshan 
is  the  old  classical  land  of  lapis  lazuli;  but  just  this  lends  force  to  his  conclusion  that 
the  ancient  cosmetic  used  by  the  Chinese  was  of  mineral,  and  not,  as  later  Chinese 
authors  believed,  of  vegetal  origin. 

^  As  I  expect  to  show  on  another  occasion,  there  is,  besides  kin  tsing,  an  ancient 
term  kin  sing  shi,  "stone  with  golden  stars,"  for  the  designation  of  lapis  lazuli.  This 
is  mentioned  as  a  product  of  Tibet  (T'u-po)  in  Kiu  Wu  tai  shi  (Ch.  138,  p.  i  b),  as  a 
product  of  Khotan  in  the  Geography  of  the  Ming  Dynasty  {Ta  Ming  i  t'ung  chi, 
edition  of  1461,  Ch.  89,  fol.  25  a),  and  as  a  product  of  Sze-chou  fu  (in  the  province  of 
Kuei-chou)  in  the  Geography  of  the  Ts'ing  Dynasty  {Ta  Ts'ing  i  t'ung  chi,  Ch.  398, 
p.  3  b);  compare  further  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  Ch.  10,  p.  10  a.  The  word  kin  sing 
reflects  the  same  notion  as  connected  by  the  ancients  with  the  same  stone  (called 
sappheiros,  sapphirus,  a  word  of  Semitic  origin:  O.  Schrader,  Reallexikbn,  p.  152), 
described  by  them  as  a  blue  stone  with  brilliant  dots  of  gold  (the  small  quantity 
of  sodium  sulphide  present  in  the  stone  being  taken  for  gold),  and  likened  to  the 
starry  sky  (compare  Bliimner,  /.  c).  The  modern  Chinese  name  for  lapis  lazuli  is 
ts'ing  kin  shi,  that  is,  "dark-blue  gold  stone."  In  the  Dictionary  of  Four  Languages 
by  the  Emperor  K'ien-lung,  this  word  is  rendered  into  Manchu  by  nontin,  Tibetan 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  45 

important  jewel  is  found  within  this  dominion  than  the  balas  ruby  or 
spinel,  no  other  alternative  caa  be  seen  at  present  than  that,  generally 
speaking,  the  se-se  is  in  all  probability  to  be  identified  with  the  latter; 
while  in  some  cases  where  carvings  and  building  material  are  mentioned, 
as  will  be  seen,  the  onyx  might  be  conjectured. 

I  have  further  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that,  as  far  as  precious 
stones  are  concerned,  two  different  species  should  be  understood  by 
the  name  se-se, —  as  far  as  the  Iranian  regions  are  involved,  the  balas 
ruby  of  Badakshan;  and,  as  far  as  ancient  Tibet  comes  into  question, 
in  all  likelihood  the  emerald. 

Further  evidence  may  first  be  adduced  for  the  proposed  identifica- 
tion with  the  balas  ruby.  The  balas  ruby  is  now  called  in  Chinese 
pi-ya-se,^  correctly  translated  as  early  as  1820  by  Abel-Remusat  ^ 
with  "le  rubis  balais";  the  Chinese  word,  according  to  this  author,  is 
derived  from  balash  or  badaksh,  whence,  as  he  says,  the  name  of  the 
country  Badakshan  is  derived;  but  more  probably,  the  name  of  the 
jewel  is  derived  from  the  name  of  the  locality.^ 

The  recent  valuable  paper  of  E.  Wiedemann,*  allows  us  to  trace 
the  etymology  of  this  Chinese  word.  Discussing  the  balas  ruby  of 
Badakshan  (in  Arabic  al  balachsh),  al-BerunI  maintains  that  the  best 

by  mu-men,  Mongol  by  notnin  or  momin,  all  of  which  have  the  same  meaning.  Abel 
Remusat  (Histoire  de  la  ville  de  Khotan,  p.  168)  adds  the  Uigur  word  nachiver 
which  he  says  is  derived  from  Persian  ladjiver  {lazvard).  The  English  and  Chinese 
vStandard  Dictionary  (Vol.  I,  p.  1308,  Shanghai,  1910)  translates  lapis  lazuli  by  Ian 
liu-li.  In  the  Mongol  period  the  Chinese  name  for  lapis  lazuli  was  Ian  ch^i  (Bret- 
SCHNEIDER,  Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  151,  and  Chinese  Recorder,  Vol.  VI, 
1875,  p.  16)  doubtless  derived  from  the  Persian  or  Arabic  word.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  character  Ian  "orchid"  (No.  6721)  used  by  Ch'ang  Te  in  writing  this  word  is  an 
error  for  Ian  "indigo,  blue"  (No.  6732) ;  the  name  of  the  capital  of  Badakshan  where 
lapis  lazuli  was  mined  was  Lan  shi,  "Blue  Market"  (Ch.wannes,  T'oung  Pao,  1907, 
p.  188),  a  designation  which  apparently  refers  to  the  blue  color  of  lapis  lazuli. 

^  Giles,  Dictionary,  No.  9009,  who  translates  "a  kind  of  cornelian",  which  is  not 
correct. 

^  Histoire  de  la  ville  de  Khotan,  p.  168.  The  identification  is  based  on  the 
Dictionary  in  Four  Languages  (see  below  p.  48,  note). 

'  Yule  and  Burnell  (Hobson-Jobson,  p.  52)  state  in  regard  to  the  word  balas: 
"It  is  a  corruption  of  Balakhshl,  a  popular  torm  oi Badakhshl,  because  these  rubies 
came  from  the  famous  mines  on  the  Upper  Oxus,  in  one  of  the  districts  subject  to 
Badakshan,"  and  quote  also  Ibn  Ba^uta  as  saying  that  the  mountains  of  Badakshan 
have  given  their  name  to  the  Badakshi  ruby. —  Eitel  (Handbook  of  Chinese  Bud- 
dhism, p.  131),  I  believe,  is  quite  right  in  recognizing  in  rohitaka  or  lohitaka  the 
Sanskrit  word  for  the  balas  ruby,  for  the  other  Sanskrit  words  employed  for  the 

'"  ruby,  as  shown  by  L.  Finot  (Les  lapidaires  indiens,  p.  XXXIX),  refer  to  such  species 
as  are  found  in  India.     We  are  much  in  need  of  a  careful  and  critical  study  of  all  the 

[  names  of  precious  stones  to  be  found  in  Buddhist  Sanskrit  and  Pali  literatures,  and 
these  should  certainly  be  examined  in  connection  with  the  corresponding  Chinese  and 
Tibetan  renderings;  the  Buddhist  nojtnenclature,  in  many  cases,  deviates  from  that 
of  the  Indian  mineralogists. 

■*  Ueber  den  Wert  von  Edelsteinen  bei  den  Muslimen  {Der  Islam,  Vol.  II,  191 1, 
P-  349). 


46     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

sort  is  the  pijdzakl,  that  is,  the  one  coming  from  the  district  of  Pijazak. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we  may  look  upon  this  word  as  the  source 
of  the  Chinese  transcription  pi-ya-se,  whereby  its  meaning  is  moreover 
confirmed.  It  is  true  the  Chinese  word  is  not  traceable  earlier  than  the 
eighteenth  century,  but  it  is  doubtless  a  much  more  ancient  word  of  the 
colloquial  language  which  for  this  reason  was  not  registered  in  the 
standard  dictionaries;  it  is,  however,  entered,  as  numerous  other 
colloquial  words,  in  the  "Dictionary  in  Four  Languages"  published 
by  the  Emperor  K'ien-lung.  Mention  is  made  of  pi-ya-se  in  the 
"Statutes  of  the  Manchu  Dynasty"  {Ta  TsHng  hut  Hen  fu,  Ch.  43, 
p.  5)  where  they  are  granted  as  a  privilege  to  all  imperial  court-ladies 
to  be  worn  on  their  sable  caps.^  There  is,  however,  an  older  trace  of 
the  word  in  a  source  of  the  Mongol  period  where,  in  my  opinion,  it  has 
been  misjudged  by  Bretschneider.  The  Chinese  traveler  Ch'ang 
T6,  who  was  despatched  in  1259  by  the  Mongol  Emperor  Mangu  as 
envoy  to  his  brother  Hulagu,  king  of  Persia,  and  whose  diary,  under 
the  title  Si  shi  ki,  was  edited  in  1263  by  Liu  Yu,  reports  that  a  precious 
stone  by  the  name  ya-se  of  five  different  colors  and  of  very  high  price 
is  found  on  the  rocks  of  the  mountains  in  the  south-western  countries. 
Bretschneider  ^  is  inclined  to  identify  this  word  with  the  Arabic 
yashm  or  yashb,  our  word  jasper,  which  seems  to  me  very  improbable. 
The  stone  ya-se  is  mentioned  by  Ch'ang  T^  together  with  lapis  lazuli 

1  The  character  pi  in  the  word  pi-ya-se  may  explain  also  why  the  se-se  are  desig- 
nated by  some  authors  as  pi  "green,"  which  may  simply  be  due  to  a  reminiscence  of 
the  word  pi-ya-se  where  the  word  pi  enters  as  an  attempt  at  reproducing  a  foreign 
sound.  Besides,  al-Beruni,  in  the  passage  quoted  by  Wiedemann,  speaks  of  four 
color  variations  in  the  balas  ruby, —  red,  violet,  green  and  yellow.  The  Armenian 
lapidarium  (K.  P.  Patkanov,  /.  c,  p.  19)  ascribes  to  spinels  a  red  color,  the  colors  of 
the  garnet,  of  fire,  of  vinegar,  of  wine,  of  the  scorpion,  and  of  peas.  A.  Boetius  de 
Boot  (/.  c,  p.  149)  states  in  regard  to  the  color  of  Rubinus  Balassius:  "Habet  iste 
Rubinus  laccae  florentinae,  aut  cremesinum  colorem,  ita  ut  parum  caerulei  coloris 
vero  rubro  admixtum  videatur,  rosei  coloris  rubentis  instar."  R.  Miethe  (in 
Kramer,  Der  Mensch  und  die  Erde,  Vol.  V,  p.  377)  describes  spinels  as  black  or 
brown-black,  frequently  brownish,  rarely  green  and  blue.  O.  C.  Farrington 
(Gems  and  Gem  Minerals,  p.  96),  besides  red,  gives  also  the  colors  orange,  green, 
blue,  indigo,  white  and  black.  Max  Bauer  (Precious  Stones,  p.  297)  has  the  fol- 
lowing: "Spinels  of  a  rose-red  or  light  shade  of  color  inclined  to  blue  or  violet  are 
referred  to  as  'balas  rubies.'  They  not  infrequently  combine  with  this  character  a 
peculiarly  milky  sheen  which  considerably  detracts  from  their  value.  Stones  the 
color  of  which  is  more  decidedly  blue  or  violet  resemble,  although  much  paler,  some 
almandines,  and  are  known  as  'almandine  spinels.'  Violet  spinels,  which  are  not 
too  pale  in  color,  often  resemble  both  the  true  amethyst  and  the  '  oriental  amethyst, ' 
and  indeed  have  sometimes  been  put  on  the  market  under  the  latter  name."  Blue 
and  black  spinels  are  discussed  by  the  same  author  on  p.  299.  Red  and  purple  balas 
rubies  are  distinguished  also  by  Yang  Sh^n  {Ko  chi  king  yiian,  Ch.  33,  p.  i)  who,  ac- 
cording to  Mayers  (Chinese  Reader's  Manual,  p.  270)  lived  from  1488  to  1559 
(Giles,'  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  912,  sets-  the  date  of  his  death  at  1529;  but 
Wylie,  Notes  on  Chin.  Lit.,  p.  154,  assigns  1544  to  one  of  his  works). 

^  Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  151,  and  Chinese  Recorder,  Vol.  VI,  1875,  p.  16 
(where  the  Chinese  characters  are  given). 


July,  1913.  » Notes  on  Turquois.  47 

(lan-ch'i)  as  occurring  in  the  same  locality,  and  since  Badakshan  is  the 
locality  producing  lapis  and  balas  ruby,  the  greater  probability  is  that 
Ch'ang  Te's  ya-se  is  identical  with  pi-ya-se,  the  balas  ruby  of  Badakshan. 
The  fact  that  Ch'ang  T^,  in  writing  the  name,  employs  other  characters 
than  those  in  use  at  later  tinies  is  certainly  not  in  the  way  of  this  identi- 
fication. On  the  other  hand,  as  stated  above  (p.  33,  note  5),  Ch'ang 
T6  notices  in  the  palace  of  the  CaUph  se-se  together  with  lapis  lazuli,  and 
hence  it  may  be  concluded  that  his  se-se  is  identidal  with  ya-se,  i.e.  that 
se-se  is  the  balas  ruby  of  Badakshan.  And  if  it  is  permissible  to  inter- 
pret the  word  liu-li,  occurring  in  the  accoimt  on  Persia  in  the  Sui  shu 
(Ch.  83,  p.  lib)  and  having  its  place  between  coral,  agate  and  crystal, 
in  the  sense  of  lapis  lazuli,  we  are  there  confronted  with  an  analogous 
case.  The  great  antiquity,  of  lapis  lazuli  in  Egypt  and  Western  Asia, 
corresponding  to  its  relatively  early  appearance  in  China,  leads  one  to 
the  inevitable  conclusion  that  also  balas  ruby,  originating  from  the 
same  mines,  must  be  of  proportionately  equal  age. 

From  the  few  accounts  we  have  in  regard  to  the  se-se  —  there  is  no 
contemporaneous  description  of  them  —  we  cannot  surely  be  too  positive 
on  the  subject  of  identification.  But  the  spinel  or  balas  ruby  tentatively 
proposed  suits  the  situation  far  better  than  the  turquois,  for  it  is  a 
precious  stone,  it  was  found  (and  still  is  found)  in  the  heart  of  those 
regiorts  participating  in  the  property  of  se-si,  and  is  well  authenticated 
historically  and  archasologieally.  The  word  se-se  is  evidently  not 
Chinese,  buj  derived  from  a  foreign  language ;  it  may  be  either  a  Chinese 
attempt  at  transcribing  a  Turkish  or  Persian  designation  of  the  stone, 
or  the  name  of  some  locality,  mountain  or  river.^ 

1  Marco  Polo's  designation  of  the  mountain  where  the  balas  ruby  is  mined, 
Syghinan  =  Shignan,  is  very  suggestive  as  a  possible  foundation  of  the  word  st-sk 
(Cantonese:  sok-sok).  It  is  also  significant  that  the  ancient  Chinese  name  for  Shigh- 
nan  is  recorded  in  the  Annals  of  the  T'ang  Dynasty  in  the  form  St-ni  or  Se-k'i-ni, 
and  that  this  syllable  se  is  written  with  the  same  character  as  used  in  the  jewel  si-si 
(see  Chavannes,  Documents  sur  les  Tou-kiue  occidentaux,  pp.  162,  322).  It  is 
therefore  possible,  after  all,  that  si-se  derives  its  name  from  this  locality  and  means 
"stone  of  Shighnan," — a  case  from  a  philological  point  of  view  analogous  to  the 
above  mentioned  pijdzakl  and  badakshl.  During  the  Mongol  period  the  balas  ruby 
is  designated  la  in  the  Cho  keng  lu  (Ch.  7,  p.  5  b,  edition  of  1469),  —  a  word  which  is 
traced  by  Bretschneider  (Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  173)  to  Persian  Idl.  The 
Chinese  author  T'ao  Tsung-i  —  a  fact  not  mentioned  by  Bretschneider  —  states 
that  this  word  is  only  dialectic.  The  adoption  of  this  foreign  word  indicates  a  change 
in  the  commercial  conditions;  in  the  T'ang  period  the  balas  rubies  were  traded  to 
China  from  the  countfy  of  the  Western  Turks  (Khotan),  in  the  Mongol  period  from 
Persia.  An  error  of  Bretschneider  here  deserves  correction.  The  Cho  keng  lu  enu- 
merates four  red  stones  and  expressly  says  that  they  come  from  the  same  mine; 
since  the  balas  ruby  is  mined  in  Badakshan,  the  three  others,  viz.,  pi-che-ta,  si-la-ni, 
and  ku-mu-lan,  must  be  derived  from  the  same  locality,  and  it  is  impossible  to  con- 
jecture with  Bretschneider  that  si-la-ni  probably  means  "fi*om  Ceylon" — a  view 
untenable  also  for  philological  reasons.  The  pi-che-ta  corresponds  to  Arabic  bigddl, 
"garnet"  (Wiedemann,  Der  Islam,  Vol.  II,  p.  352,  and  Zur  Mineralogie  im 
Islam,  pp.  217,  2>36,  Erlangen,  1912).     If  Bretschneider  adds  that  nowadays  the 


48     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History — -Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

We  noticed  from  the  statements  of  the  Pei  shi  and  Sui  shu  that 
se-se  are  attributed  to  the  Persians,  and  from  the  T'ang  shu  that  these 
jewels  were  known  in  Syria.  In  the  epoch  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  (6x8- 
906)  the  three  great  religions  of  Western  Asia,  Mazdeism,  Nestorianism 
and  Manicheism  reached  a  high  degree  of  expansion  and  spread  over 

name  for  ruby  in  China  is  hung  pao  shi  ("red  precious  stone"),  it  should  be 
understood  that  this  is  not  the  balas  ruby,  but  the  Burmese  ruby  (see  also 
G.  E.  Gerini,  Researches  on  Ptolemy's  Geography,  pp.  39,  741,  London,  1909). 
Russian  manuscripts  of  the  seventeenth  century  mention  expressly  "Chinese  Idl" 
(K.  P.  Patkanov,  I.  c,  p.  21)  which  goes  to  show  that  spinels  really  existed  in  China 
and  were  traded  from  there  to  Russia.  Julius  Ruska  (Das  Steinbuch  des  Aristoteles, 
p.  32)  doubts  the  correctness  of  the  identification  of  the  Persian  word  Idl  with  the 
spinel,  and  is  inclined  to  regard  it  as  tourmalin,  as  it  is  stated  that  the  colors  of  the 
stone  are  red,  yellow,  violet  and  green  (which,  however,  is  no  conclusive  argument), 
that  the  same  stone  is  often  half  red  and  half  green,  that  it  is  found  in  a  matrix  of 
white  stone,  and  smaller  stones  frequently  lie  around  a  bigger  one.  I  have  no  judg- 
ment on  this  matter,  but  wish  to  point  out  on  this  occasion  that  it  is  impossible  to 
reach  any  certain  results  in  this  line  from  the  Chinese  field  of  research,  before  our 
colleagues  in  the  Persian  and  Arabic  quarters  have  satisfactorily  settled  their  ques- 
tions and  furnished  us  with  the  material  to  build  our  conclusions.  From  .a  purely 
philological  point  of  view,  however,  it  does  not  appear  that  Ruska's  opinion  can  be 
upheld.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  word  pijdzakl  denotes  the  balas  ruby,  and 
that  the  Chinese  word  pi-ya-se  phonetically  corresponds  to  it.  The  Imperial 
Dictionary  in  Four  Languages  renders  this  Chinese  term  by  the  Tibetan  and  Mongol 
words  nal  and  Manchu  langca  (Laufer,  Jade,  p.  109,  note  3);  these  two  forms  are 
nothing  but  variations  of  the  Persian  word  Idl,  and  consequently  Persian  Idl  must 
designate  the  balas  ruby,  so  it  does  also  in  Osmanli  and  some  other  Turkish  dialects 
which  have  adopted  this  word.  Likewise  in  Russian  the  spinel  was  known  under  the 
name  Idl  in  the  seventeenth  century  (K.  P.  Patkanov,  /.  c,  p.  20).  Dr.  Ruska,  to 
whom  I  submitted  this  observation,  was  good  enotigh  to  write  me  that  he  does  not 
mean  to  reject  in  principle  the  interpretation  of  Idl  by  spinel,  but  mainly  wishes  to 
point  out  the  difficulties  of  the  case  arising  from  the  confused  descriptions  of  the 
stone.  He  thinks  the  green  color  is  so  rare  in  this  mineral  that  it  is  impossible  that 
the  same  stone  should  be  often  half  green  and  half  red,  a  feature  which,  however,  not 
seldom  occurs  in  tourmalin  (especially  with  neutral,  colorless  intermediary  zone). 
He  further  states  that  he  has  no  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  the  equation  pi-ya-se  = 
pijdzakl  and  nal  =  Idl,  and  obligingly  refers  to  the  fact  that  the  word  pijdzakl  is  con- 
tained also  in  Vullers'  Lexicon  Persico-Latinum  with  the  additional  form  piydzl 
which  comes  still  nearer  to  the  Chinese  word.  According  to  Vullers,  pijdzek  is  the 
name  of  a  district  where  are  the  mines  of  the  Idl.  As  the  word  pijdz  means  "onion," 
it  was  wrongly  translated  into  Arabic  as  hasall  "onion-like  Idl,"  and  even  pijdzl  was 
perhaps  understood  in  this  sense.  Dr.  Ruska  refers  to  a  study  on  Qazwini  now  in 
print,  where  he  has  commented  on  this  subject.  Meanwhile  E.  Wiedemann  (Zur 
Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  216)  has  commented  on  Dr.  Ruska's  opinion  in  a  translation 
of  al-Akfani's  mineralogy,  who  identifies  al-balachsh  with  Persian  Idl.  Wiedemann, 
on  the  ground  of  the  specific  gravities  giv^n  by  al-Khazini,  holds  that  in  this  case  Idl 
should  be  translated  by  ruby-spinel,  but  admits  that  in  other  cases  it  could  signify 
tourmalin.  With  obliging  courtesy  Dr.  Ruska  has  recently  sent  me  a  proof  of  the 
note  previously  referred  to  (the  above  remarks  were  jotted  down  a  year  ago)  where 
he  says  that  the  identification  of  the  Idl  with  the  balachsh,  the  stone  of  Badakshan, 
and  with  the  rubis  balais  is  confirmed  by  al-Akfani;  but  he  adds:  "This  doe;s  not 
exclude  a  freer  usage  of  the  word  for  all  possible  red  gems,  for  who  might  say  that  the 
only  then  known  means  of  their  distinction,  the  determination  of  specific  gravity,  has 
always  been  employed?"  This  result  is  entirely  satisfactory,  and  we  return  to  the 
former  conclusion  that  Idl,  in  general,  designates  the  balas  ruby,  with  the  restrictions 
made  by  Dr.  Ruska.  In  no  case  can  it  certainly  be  expected  that  any  Oriental  names 
of  minerals,  plants,  or  animals  will  exactly  coincide  with  our  scientific  species;  it  is 
always  necessary  to  grant  the  former  a  certain  latitude.  But  for  purposes  of  transla- 
tion we  have  to  adhere  to  the  one  principal  notion  connected  with -the  object. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  49 

Central  Asia,  also  into  China.     A  curious  docuinent  allows  us  to  estab- 
lish the  fact  that  it  was  representatives  of  these  religions,  in  all  likelihood 
Manicheans,  who  brought  these  jewels  to  China.     This  text  occurs  in 
the  Shu  tien,  a  collection  of  interesting  notes  on  the  province  of  Sze- 
ch'uan,  compiled  in  1818  by  Chang  Chu-pien  (4  vols.,  reprinted  in  1876). 
The  passage  (in  Ch.  8,  p.  5)  ^  is  derived  from  the  Hua  yang  ki,  a  work 
containing  records  relative  to  Sze-ch'uan,  whose  time  and  authorship 
is  not  known  to  me.^    The  text  runs  as  follows :  "The  family  K'ai  ming  ' 
erected  a  several-storied  building  of  seven  precious  objects;  there  were 
screens    composed    of    connected    genuine    pearls.     At   the   time    of 
Emperor  Wu  (b.  c.  140-87)  of  the  Han  dynasty,  a  conflagration  in  the 
district  of  Shu  (Sze-ch'uan)  destroyed  several  thousand  houses,  and 
even  several -storied  houses  were  consumed  by  the  flames.     At  the 
present  time  people  constantly  find  genuine  pearls  preserved  in  the 
sandy  soil. — Chao  Pien,^  in  his  work  Shu  tu  ku  shi  ("Ancient  Affairs 
of  the  Capital  of  Sze-ch'uan"),  says:  ''The  Monoliths  are  outside  of  the 
west  gate  of  the  Yamen,  two  shafts  being  extant.    This  is  the  site  of  the 
building  of   the   genuine   pearls.     Formerly  people   of   Central  Asia 
{Hu  Jen)  erected  at  this  spot  a  Temple  of  Ta  Ts'in  (Ta  Ts'in  sze)  with 
gates  and  storeys  consisting  of  ten  rooms.     By  means  of  genuine  pearls 
and  bluish  jade  {ts'ui  pi)  which  were  strung,  they  made  screens.     Later 
on,  this  building  was  destroyed  and  fell  into  ruins.     Even  now  whenever 
a  big  rain  has  fallen,  people  pick  up  at  this  place  genuine  pearls,  se-s^, 
gold,  blue  jade,  and  strange  things.     The  poet  Tu  Fu  (712-770),  in  his 
'Poem  on -the  Monoliths'    has  the  verse:     'During  a  rainfall,  they 
constantly  obtain  se-se,^  which  is  an  allusion  to  this  affair."  ^ 

1  It  is  quoted  with  exactly  the  same  readings  also  in  Ko  cht  king  yuan,  Ch.  32, 
p.  7.  The  same  story  is  narrated  in  the  Ning  kai  chat  man  lu  (edited- in  Shou  shan  ko 
ts'ung  shu,  Vols.  70,  71 ;  Ch.  7,  p.  22  b)  by  Wu  TsSng  of  the  twelfth  century  (Wyhe, 
Notes  on  Chinese  Literature,  p.  160),  which  goes  to  prove  that  the  story  was  known 
in  the  Sung  period.  Also  Wu  Tseng  connects  this  tradition  with  the  verse  of  Tu  Fu 
(712-770)  relative  to  the  finds  of  se-se  at  a  rainfall;  this  is  the  heading  of  his  essay, 
and  the  story  is  given  in  explanation  of  the  poem  which  in  our  text,  as  translated 
above,  follows  at  the  end.  If  this  interpretation  is  correct,  the  event  of  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  temple  of  Ta  Ts'in  must  have  happened  contemporaneously  with,  or 
prior  to  the  age  of,  Tu  Fu.  Thus,  the  Ta  Ts'in  temple  here  in  question  may  have 
been  founded  toward  the  end  of  the  seventh  or  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century. 

-  It  is  not  identical  with  the  Hua  yang  kuo  chi,  ancient  records  of  Sze-ch"uan 
by  Ch'ang  K'li  of  the  Tsin  dynasty. 

'  According  to  an  information  received  by  M.  Pelliot,  K^ai  ming  is  the  name 
of  the  later  Emperor  Ts'ung;  he  is  identical  with  the  personage  called  Pie  Ling  in 
Giles  (Biographical  Dictionary,  No.  2071).  His  record  is  contained  m  Hua  yang 
kuo  chi  (ch.  3,  p.  2). 

••  An  official  of  the  Sung  period  (994-1070),  celebrated  for  his  integrity  and  benev- 
olence, popularly  known  as  "the  Censor  with  the  Iron  Face,"  acted  as  governor  of 
Sze-ch'uan  (Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  73).  The  Neng  kai  chai  man  lu 
designates  him  by  his  posthumous  name  Chao  Ts'ing-hien. 

*  Wu  Tseng,  after  giving  the  text  of  this  tradition  as  above,  winds  up  with  a 
comment  on  the  precious  stones  and  pearls  of  the  country  of  Ta  Ts'in  (the  Roman 


50    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

Ta  Ts'in  is  the  peculiar  name  hitherto  unexplained  in  its  origin  by 
which  the  Roman  Orient  was  known  to  the  Chinese,  a  subject  ably 
and  thoroughly  discussed  by -Prof.  Hirth  in  his  book  "China  and  the 
Roman  Orient"  on  the  basis  of  all  available  documents.  The  "Ta 
Ts'in  temples  or  churches ".  are  first  mentioned  in  Chinese  records  for 
the  year  631  when  the  magus  Ho-lu  arrived  frorii  Persia  at  Si-ngan  fu, 
and  an  imperial  edict  ordered  to  establish  in  the  capital  a  temple  of 
Ta  Ts'in.i 

In  the  year  745  an  edict  was  issued  that  the  Manichean  churches 
heretofore  called  "Persian  temples"  should  throughout  the  empire 
change  this  designation  into  "temples  of  Ta  Ts'in."  ^  The  tenor  of 
this  edict  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  Manicheans  are  understood:  for  the 
purpose  of  the  imperial  order  is  to  do  justice  to  the  true  name  of  their 
religion;  their  places  of  worship  had  heretofore  been  called  "Persian" 
for  the  mere  reason  that  they  had  hailed  from  Persia,  but  the  foundation 
of  their -religion  was  Christian  and  had  originated  in  Ta  Ts'in,  in  Syria. 
I  am  therefore  inclined  to  think  that  also  in  the  above  text  the  "Temple 
of  Ta  Ts'in"  should  be  identified  with  a  Manichean  church.  If  this 
document  can  be  looked  upon  as  authentic  we  here  have  the  interesting 
fact,  which  I  believe  was  not  known  before,  that  the  Manicheans, 
probably  in  the  first  part  of  the  eighth  century,  had  extended  their 
settlements  to  far-off  Sze-ch'uan,  and  the  point  at  issue  in  this  connec- 
tion is  that  they  must  have  brought  over  to  Sze-ch'uan  a  large  quantity 
of  precious  stones,  among  these  se-se  or  balas  ruby.  In  this  case  it 
should  rather  be  positively  asserted  that  the  turquois  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  mere  idea  that  the  Manicheans  should  have  employed 
turquois,  and  especially  in  combination  with  genuine  pearls  and  precious 
jades,  for  the  decoration  of  their  churches,  seems  absurd.  Precious 
stones  played  a  significant  part  in  the  religious  system  and  symbolism 
of  the  Manicheans,  and  as  their  reHgious  notions  centered  around  the 

Orient)  and  concludes  that  the  founders  of  the  temple  have  therefore  been  indeed 
men  from  the  country  of  Ta  Ts'in.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  P'ei  wen  yun  fu  (Ch.  93 
B,  p.  85)  that  under  the  word  se-se  a  passage  from  the  History  of  the  Liao  Dynasty 
{Liao  shi,  chapter  on  Rites)  is  quoted  to  the  effect  that  "  Jo-han  selected  an  auspicious 
day  to  practice  the  ceremony  of  sS-se,  in  order  to  pray  for  rain."  This  word  s^-si 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  jewel  in  question,  but  is  a  word  of  the  Tungusic  language 
of  the  Khitan,  seseli  (explained  as  such  in  Liao  shi,  Ch.  116,  p.  4  b),  meaning  a  cere- 
mony of  rain-prayer,  in  which  no  stone  at  all  is  employed  but  a  willow  at  which  a 
lance  is  thrown  by  the  emperor,  the  princes  and  ministers.  The  ceremony  is  fully 
described  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Liao  shi  (see  H.  C.  v.  D.  Gabelentz,  Geschichte 
der  grossen  Liao,  p.  31;  further  Liao  shi,  Chs.  27,  p.  3;  55,  p.  i  b;  56,  p.  i  b).  The 
K'ien-lung  scholars  identify  the  Khitan  word  with  Manchu  sekseri  {KHn  ting  Liao  shi 
yii  kiai,  Ch.  10,  p.  i). 

1  Chavannes,  Le  Nestorianisme  (Journal  asiatique,  1897,  p.  61). 

*  This  edict  has  been  translated  by  Chavannes  {L  c,  p.  66)  and  Paul  Pelliot 
(Bulletin  de  l' Ecole  frangaise  d' Extreme-Orient,  Vol.  Ill,  1903,  p.  670). 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  51 

dualistic  principle  of  light  and  darkness,  it  is  evident  that  brilliant 
jewels  were  conceived  by  them  as  emblems  of  light  and  for  this  reason 
were  employed  in  their  churches.^ 

Several  examples  of  this  kind  may  be  gleaned  from  the  newly 
discovered  Manichean  treatise  brilliantly  translated  by  M.  Chavannes 
and  -M.  Pelliot  in  collaboration.^  Compassion  is  likened  there  to 
"the  precious  pearl  called  the  bright  moon  which  is  the  first  among  all 
jewels"  (p.  67).  The  Messenger  of  Light  is  compared  with  "the  per- 
fumed mountain,  vast  and  grand,  of  all  jewels,"  and  with  "the  precious 
diamond  pillar  supporting  the  multitude  of  the  beings"  (p.  90).  "Our 
heart  has  received  the  maj.estic  splendor  of  the  pearl  granting  every 
wish,"  it  is  said  at  the  end  of  this  treatise  (p.  92).  Such  like  thoughts 
may  explain  the  utilization  of  pearls  in  the  Manichean  church  of  Sze- 
ch'uan.  •  We  know  also  that  the  adherents  of  Mani  were  fond  of  flowers, 
perfumes  and  ornaments,  and  in  the  same  book  (p.  61)^  there  is 
even  a  legend  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  jewels  which  seems  to  be  connect- 
ed with  their  beliefs  of  resurrection.  The  dying  Manichean  was 
adorned  with  rich  ornaments  (apparently  symbolic  of  light)  to  be 
prepared  for  admission  into  the  luminous  regions.  The  gods  approach 
the  dead  with  ornaments  which  have  the  effect  of  putting  the  present 
devils  to  flight.^  It  does'  not  seem  to  be  known  what  symbolism  the 
Manjcheans  attached  to  the  balas  ruby.*     But  as  the  lost -literature  of 

'  The  basis  of  this  symbolism  certainly  is  to  be  traced  to  the  writings  of  the  New 
Testament,  especially  Revelation  XXI,  18-21,  and  presents  the  counterpart  to 
the  mystic  and  moralizing  ideas  associated  by  mediaeval  Christian  writers  with  the 
twelve  precious  stones  in  the  breastplate  of  the  Jewish  High  Priest,  the  twelve  jewels 
forming  the  foundations  of  the  wall  of  Heavenly  Jerusalem  just  referred  to,  and  the 
jewels  in  the  crown  of  the  Virgin.  Among  the  latter,  the  balas  ruby  appears  in  the 
fifteenth  century  in  the  story  of  the  visions  of  Sainte  Frangoise  where  four  other 
stones  not  figuring  among  the  twelve  of  the  Bible  are  listed, —  the  diamond,  garnet, 
carnelian  and  turquois  (L.  Pannier,  Les  lapidaires  frangais  du  moyen  ^ge,  p.  225, 
Paris,  1882;  see  ibid.,  pp.  280-2,  on  the  mediaeval  beliefs  regarding  balas  ruby). 
Dante  (Paradise  IX,  67)  extols  the  lustre  of  the  balascio:  L'altra  letizia,  che  m'era 
gik  nota  Preclara  cosa,  mi  si  fece  in  vista  Qual  fin  balascio  in  che  lo  sol  percota.  The 
ruby,  in  general,  was  emblematic  of  glory,  and  with  predilection,  chosen  for  the  rings 
of  the  bishops  (H.  Clifford  Smith,  Jewellery,  p.  148,  New  York,  1908,  and  D. 
Rock,  Church  of  our  Fathers,  Vol.  II,  p.  171,  London,  1849,  where  a  gold  pontifical 
ring  with  a  sapphire  surrounded  by  four  balas  rubies  is  mentioned). 

^  Un  traits  manich^en  retrouv6  en  Chine.  Extrait  du  Journal  asiatique,  Paris, 
1912. 

'  G.  Flugel,  Mani,  seine  Lehre  und  seine  Schriften,  pp.  268,  339  (Leipzig,  1862). 

*  Some  of  the  symbolism  associated  with  the  spinel  in  western  Asia  may  be 
gleaned  from  the  Armenian  lapidarium  translated  into  Russian  by  K.  P.  Patkanov 
(p.  19):  "The  spinel  shares  with  the  ruby  in  the  quality  tha*  it  quenches  thirst,  as 
soon  as  it  is  placed  in  the  mouth.  When  pounded  and  mixed  with  a  medicinal  ex- 
tract, it  gladdens  man  and  removes  from  him  grief  and  sorrow.  Mixed  with  an  un- 
guent and  administered  to  the  eyes,  it  strengthens  their  vision  and  renders  man  far- 
sighted.  Its  nature  is  warm  and  dry.  The  sages  say  that  the  wearing  of  a  spinel 
protects  one  from  all  diseases,  from  pain  in  the  loins;  it  safeguards  man  from  bad 
dreams  and  devils.     The  wearer  of  a  spinel  becomes  agreeable  to  people." 


52     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

this  religion  is  gradually  being  rediscovered  thanks  to  the  scholarship 
of  F.  W.  K.  Muller,  Le  Coq,  Pelliot  and  Chavannes,  there  is  hope  that 
the  future  will  reveal  this  fact,  and  that  also  the  puzzling  word  se-se 
will  occur  in  the  writings  of  the  Manicheans.^ 

I  have  no  definite  opinion  as  to  the  indigenous  se-se  mentioned  in  the 
Sung  period  and  in  the  fanciful  stories  of  the  T'ang  dynasty.  It  is 
evident  that  neither  the  spinel  nor  the  turquois  is  here  involved,  but 
that  it  is  the  question  of  some  Chinese  stone  of  fine  appearance  which  is 
beyond  the  possibility  of  positive  identification,  as  the  accounts  are 
too  vague  and  elastic.  It  is  manifest  that  se^se  was  a  favorite  word 
in  the  age  of  the  T'ang,  perhaps  owing  to  its  pleasing  rhythm,  that  the 
far-off  countries  where  the  jewel  was  first  discovered  lent  it  a  nimbus 
of  romance,  and  that  the  name  could  easily  be  transferred .  to  other 
similar  stones.  If  I  am  allowed  to  express  a  personal  opinion,  I  may 
say  that  this  kind  of  se-se  possibly  refers  to  onyx.  We  see  from  Pseudo- 
Aristotle's  Lapidarium  ^  that  China  was  known  to  the  Arabs  as  a  place 
of  production  for  onyx,  and  it  might  even  be  conjectured  that  the 
Arabic  word  for  onyx  djaza  (Persian  djiza)  which  has  penetrated  into 
Sanskrit  in  the  form  qeska  ^  and  into  Tibetan  in  the  form  ze  ^  may  have 
been  instrumental  in  the  shaping  of  the  Chinese  word  se-se  of  this 
meaning.  The  existence  of  onyx  in  ancient  China  has  not  been  here- 
tofore recognized,  because  the  indigenous  word  for  it,  on  traditional 
convention,  was  accepted  to  have  the  meaning  of  jade,  nobody  knowing 
what  kind  of  jade  was  understood.  This  is  the  compound  pi  yii  (Giles's 
Dictionary,  No.  9009)  usually  translated  "greenish  or  bluish  jade." 
A.  FoRKE  ^  was  the  first  to  express  his  doubts  of  the  correctness  of  this 
translation,  and  to  point  out  that  there  are  Chinese  authors  who  dis- 
tinguish pi  yii  from  jade.     Now  we  find  in  the  English  and  Chinese 

1  We  could  perhaps  even  go  so  far  as  to  connect  the  importation  of  rubies  into 
China  with  the  Manicheans.  According  to  the  Arabic  author  Qazwini  (1203-83) 
there  were  several  kinds  of  precious  stones  Hke  rubies  and  others,  and  plenty  of  gold 
in  Sandabil,  identical  with  Kan-chou,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Tangutans 
(Chinese  Si-hia,  1004-1226),  and  according  to  him,  Manicheans  lived  there  at  the 
same  time  and  enjoyed  there  perfect  liberty  (compare  J.  Marquart,  Osteuropaische 
und  ostasiatische  Streifziige,  pp.  87-88,  Leipzig,  1903). 

^  Julius  Ruska,  Das  Steinbuch  des  Aristoteles,  p.  145,  Heidelberg,  1912.  Also 
Ibn  al-Baitar,  1 197-1248  (L.  Leclerc,  Traite  des  simples.  Vol.  I,  p.  354,  Paris,  1877), 
makes  the  statement  that  onyx  is  found  in  Yemen  and  in  China.  Regarding  onyx 
in  Persia  compare  G.  P.  Merrill,  The  Onyx  Marbles,  pp.  577-9  {Report  of  U.  S. 
National  Museum,  1893).  See  further  E.  Wiedemann,  Zur  Mineralogie  im  Islam, 
pp.  245-9  (Erlangen,  1912). 

^  L.  FiNOT,  Les  la^idaires  indiens,  p.  XVII  (Paris,  1896). 

^  Mr.  RocKHiLL  (The  Ethnology  of  Tibet,  p.  692)  tells  us  that  he  has  seen  in 
certain  portions  of  Tibet  (Miri,  near  Shobando,  for  instance)  the  men  wearing  neck- 
laces of  coral  beads  and  a  substance  which  he  believes  is  onyx,  and  which  is  called  by 
them  ze. 

*  Mitteilungen  des  Seminars  fur  Orientalische  Sprachen,  Vol.  VII,  1904,  p.  147. 


July,  1913.  Ncttes  on  Turquois,  53 

Standard  Dictionary  published  in  1908  by  the  Commercial  Press  of 
Shanghai  (Vol.  II,  p.  1561)  the  word  onyx  translated  by  this  very  term 
pi  yii  ^  (also  by  tai  wen  ma-nao,  "streaky  agate"),  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  also  in  ancient  texts  the  word  pi  yii  designates  the  onyx.  Thus, 
for  example,  in  the  account  of  Ta  Ts'in  given  in  the  Wei  Ho  ^  where  the 
five-colored  (that  is,  variegated)  pi,  in  my  opinion,  is  onyx;  likewise 
the  pillars  in  the  country  of  Fu-lin,  as  reported  in  the  Kiu  T'ang  shu 
(see  above  p.  27)  were  of  onyx  or  se-se.  In  the  older  account  of  the 
Wei  Ho  compiled  prior  to  the  year  429  a.  d.,  the  Chinese  designation  is 
still  retained,  while  in  the  epoch  of  the  T'ang  a  preference  was  manifested 
for  the  West-Asiatic  name  which  was  then  transferred  also  to  the  home 
product.  In  this  manner,  a  plausible  explanation  may  be  found  for 
the  occurrence  of  se-se  on  Chinese  soil,  for  the  use  of  this  word  with 
reference  to  the  Roman  Orient,  and  particularly  for  the  carvings 
described  in  the  traditions  of  the  T'ang  period  and  in  the  archaeological 
works  of  the  Sung  d\aiasty,  which  could  have  indeed  been  made  of 
onyx,  a  stone  material  ranking  next  to  jade  in  Chinese  eyes.^  The 
difficulty  of  research  in  this  line  is  enhanced  by  our  lack  of  knowledge  of 
the  mineralogy  of  China,  so  that  we  are  still  deprived  of  a  solid  scientific 
foundation  for  our  studies. 

1  This  is  likewise  the  case  in  the  German-Chinese  Dictionary  pubUshed  by  the 
Catholic  Missionaries  of  South-Shantung,  p.  613  (Yen-chou  £u,  1906). 

-  HiRTH,  China  and  the  Roman  Orient,  pp.  73,  1 13. 

^  There  are  two  references  pertaining  to  Herat  and  Samarkand  in  a  text  of  the 
fifteenth  century  where  the  word  se-se,  without  any  doubt,  signifies  a  building-stone. 
In  1415  Ch'Sn  Ch'eng  returned  to  China  from  a  journey  through  Central  Asia  which 
had  taken  him  through  seventeen  different  countries.  He  published  the  information 
gathered  by  him  in  a  book  entitled  Shi  si  yii  ki,  "Record  of  an  Embassy  to  the 
Western  Regions"  (compare  Ming  shi,  Ch.  332,  and  Bretschneider,  China  Review, 
Vol.  V,  1876,  p.  314).  The  original  seems  to  be  lost,  but  extracts  from  it  are  quoted 
in  the  Imperial  Geography  of  the  Ming  Dynasty  {Ta  Ming  i  t'ung  chi,  edition  of 
1461).  Under  the  heading  of  Herat  {Ho-lie),  Ch'en  Ch'eng  is  cited  as  saying 
(Ch.  89,  fol.  23  b):  •  "They  are  fond  of  clean  clothing  which  is  white  in  color,  and 
which  is  exchanged  for  dark  in  case  of  mourning.  The  windows  and  walls  of  the 
palace  in  which  the  ruler  of  this  country  lives  are  adorned  with  gold,  silver,  and  se-se." 
With  reference  to  Samarkand  the  same  author  reports  {ibid.,  fol.  22  b):  "There  are 
many  workmen  there  skilful  in  all  handicrafts  and  clever  in  erecting  palaces,  build- 
ings, gates,  and  pillars,  with  carvings  in  open  work,  and  with  windows  connected  by 
se-se."  Both  turquois  and  balas  ruby  are  out  of  the  question  in  these  two  cases;  it 
is  a  building-stone,  and  most  probably  the  onyx,  which  is  here  referred  to. — As  our 
knowledge  of  ancient  Chinese  sculpture  advances,  we  may  hope  to  obtain  several 
exact  definitions  for  the  ancient  names  of  stones,  as  in  many  of  the  votive  inscriptions 
engraved  in  the  monuments  the  name  of  the  stone  is  expressly  stated  (though  most 
frequently  only  the  designation  "stone  image"  is  employed).  The  term  yti  shi 
{lit.  jade  stone)  mentioned  by  Pelliot  {T'oung  Pao,  1912,  p.  435)  is  also  well  known 
to  me  as  occurring  on  Buddhist  statuary  of  the  Wei  and  T'ang  periods,  and  it  had 
never  been  assumed  by  me  that  it  has  the  meaning  of  jade;  yii  shi,  as  also  Pelliot 
says,  means  a  jade-like  stone,  probably  only  a  highly  prized  or  valuable  stone.  The 
term  yii  Fu  {lit.  jade  Buddha)  may  have  well  been  employed  in  the  figurative  sense 
of  "precious  Buddha."  The  word  se-se  I  have  not  yet  traced  in  the  inscription  of 
any  sculpture,  but  it  is  possible  that  it  will  turn  up  some  day  or  other. 


54    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

The  problem  as  to  the  precious  stones  utilized  by  the  T'ang  dynasty 
could  very  well  be  solved  in  the  Imperial  Treasury  (Shos5in)  of  Nara, 
Japan,  if  an  experienced  mineralogist  might  be  admitted  there  to  make 
a  close  investigation  of  Hhe  numerous  precious  stones  lavished  on 
Chinese  objects  of  that  period.  In  the  Tdyei  Shuko  published  by  the 
Imperial  Household  where  these  treasures  are  splendidly  illustrated, 
but  inadequately  described,  the  importance  of  this  subject  is  overlooked. 
We  read,  for  example,  on  p.  5  of  Vol.  I  of  discs  used  in  plajdng  games, 
35  of  crystal,  35  of  amber,  20  of  yellow  lapis  lazuli,  20  of  azure  lapis 
lazuli,  15  of  sHghtly  green  lapis  lazuli,  15  of  green  lapis  lazuli;  in  the 
description  of  swords,  green  lapis  lazuli  is  repeatedly  mentioned.  Need- 
less to  say  there  is  no  yellow  or  green  lapis  lazuli,  and  that  these  defini- 
tions rest  on  guesswork,  not  on  investigation.  But  the  same  remark 
holds  good  for  most  of  our  archaeological  collections.  A  competent 
examination  of  the  intaglios  discovered  in  Turkistan,  especially  Khotan, 
and  of  the  engraved  gems  of  the  Sassanian  period  of  Persia  would 
likewise  yield  new  results  for  this  interesting  branch  of  research. 

At  a  future  date,  precious  stones  will  occupy  a  prominent  place  also 
in  Chinese  archaeology,  and  the  practical  utility  of  studies  -like  the 
present  one  will  then  become  manifest.  Already  now  the  fact  is 
apparent  that  precious  stones  are  found  in  Chinese  graves,  and  there 
is  a  certain  number  of  them  (especially  lapis  lazuli,  carnelian,  agate, 
and  others  as  yet  undefined)  in  the  collections  of  the  Field  Museum. 
But  for  lack  of  evidence  this  subject  is  difficult  to  treat  at  present. 
Turquois,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  and  as  far  as  I  know  from  Chinese  ex- 
perts, has  not  yet  been  .discovered  in  any  Chinese  grave.  The  day 
will  not  be  far  when  also  Chinese  archseolog}^  will  be  based  on  the 
actual  evidence  of  the  finds,  and  —  qui  vivra  verra. 

Ill  regard  to  Tibet  a  plausible  interpretation  may  be  offered,  and  the 

•Chinese  transcription  se-se  referring  to  a  jewel  greatly  prized  by  the 

ancient  Tibetans  seems  to  be  traceable  to  a  Tibetan  word.     There  is  a 

Tibetan  word  ze  (or  ze-ba,  ha  being  only  a  suffix),  a  different  word  from 

the  one  mentioned  before,  which  in  the  Tibetan-Sanskrit  dictionaries 

is  translated  by  Sanskrit  agmagarbha;  the  latter  is,  according  to  the 

Rdjanighantu  (ed.  Garbe,  p.  77),  an  epithet  of  the  ehierald,  and  Tibetan 

ze  {=  Chinese  se-se)  would  accordingly  designate  the  emerald.^     This 

identification  is  quite  in  keeping  with  what  Chinese  authors  report 

1  Compare  the  Chinese  word  she-she,  "emerald,"  cited  by  Palladius  (see  above 
p.  25,  note  i).  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Chinese  accounts  of  se-se,  in  a  measure, 
present  a  curious  analogy  with  the  notices  of  the  emerald  on  the  part  of  the  ancients, 
in  that  the  latter  have  mingled  with  the  genuine  emerald  other  statements  which 
cannot  relate  to  the  latter,  for  example,  fabulous  reports  on  Egyptian  emeralds  four 
cubits  long  and  three  cubits  wide,  and  on  obelisks  of  emerald  (H.  Blumner,  /.  c. 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  239,  and  Lessing,  Briefe  antiquarischen  Inhalts,  XXV). 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  55 

regarding  the  high  value  of  se-se  in  Tibet.  Also  the  Tibetan  word 
mar-gad,  derived  from  Sanskrit  marakata,  sufficiently  shows  that  the 
Tibetans  were  acquainted  with  the  emerald.  Capt.  A.  Gerard, 
speaking  of  the  people  of  Spiti  in  the  extreme  western  part  of  Tibet, 
remarks  that  they  have  beads  of  coral  and  other  precious  stones  which 
resemble  rubies,  emeralds  and  topazes.^  The  surface  of  a  mausoleum  in 
Yamdo  Samding  is  studded  over  with  large  turquoises,  coral  beads, 
rubies,  emeralds  and  pearls.'^  Samuel  Turner,^  in  "a  list  of  the  usual 
articles -of  commerce  between  Tibet  and  the  surrounding  countries," 
has  registered  emeralds  exported  from  Bengal  to  Tibet. 

Abel-Remusat  *  has  wrongly  ascribed  the  meaning  of  emerald  to 
the  word  lu-sung  shi,  meaning  "turquois";  on  the  other  hand  he  errone- 
ously translates  by  "chrysolith,  or  perhaps  turquois"  the  Chinese  word 
tsie-mu-lu,  corresponding  to  Manchu  niowarimbu  wehe  (that  is,  greenish 
stone),  which  is  the  emerald.  This  is  proved  by  the  Imperial  Dictionary 
in  Four  Languages,  where  this  Chinese  and  Manchu  term  corresponds 
to  Tibetan  mar-gad  (written  also  ma-rgad,  Taranatha  173,  19)  and 
Mongol  markat,  both  derived  from  Sanskrit  marakata  which  itself  is 
a  loan  word  from  Greek  zmaragdos  or  maragdos}     The  Chinese  word 

1  See  RocKHiLL,  The  Ethnology  of  T!bet,  p.  694. 

-  S.  Chandra  Das,  Journey  to  Lhasa,  p.  183  (London,  1904). 

'  An  Account  of  an  Embassy  to  the  Court  of  the  Teshoo  Lama,  in  Tibet,  p.  383 
(London,  1800).  On  p.  261  he  tells  that  he  saw  the  rosaries  owned  by  the  deceased 
Pan  ch'en  rin-po-ch'e,  made  of  pearls,  emeralds,  rubies,  and  sapphires;  and  on  p.  336, 
he  describes  the  necklace  in  the  possession  of  a  Lhasa  lady  of  high  rank,  in  which 
were  employed  balas  rubies,  lapis  lazuli,  amber,  and  coral  in  numerous  wreaths,  and 
in  her  hair  she  wore  pearls,  rubies,  emeralds,  and  coral. 

■•  Histoire  de  la  ville  de  Khotan,  p.  168  (Paris,  1820). 

^  A.  Weber,  Die  Griechen  in  Indien  {Sitzungsherichte  der  Berliner  Akademie, 
1890,  p.  912).  The  oldest  reference  given  in  the  Petersburg  Sanskrit  Dictionary  as 
to  the  occurrence  of  the  word  n^arakata  is  the  Rajanighantu.  It  is  found,  however, 
in  the  Sanskrit  romances,  for  example,  in  the  Vdsavadattd  (edition  and  translation 
of  L.  H.  Gray,  p.  109,  Col.  Un.  Indo-Iranian  Series,  Vol.  VIII,  New  York,  19 13) 
of  the  seventh  century.  Also  the  Tibetan  derivate  mar-gad,  appearing  as  equivalent 
of  marakata  in  the  Sanskrit  Buddhist  dictionary  Mahavyutpatti  (ed.  of  Minayev 
and  MiRONOV,  p.  77,  St.  Petersburg,  191 1),  allows  us  to  infer  that  the  Sanskrit  word 
is  older  than  the  seventh  century.  It  occurs  likewise  in  Buddhabhatta  (L.  Finot, 
Les  lapidaires  indiens,  p.  XLIV)  who  probably  wrote  before  the  sixth  century  A.  D. 
For  the  first  part  of  the  sixth  century  we  have  the  testimony  of  Cosmas  Indicopleustes 
(J.  W.  McCrindle,  Ancient  India  as  described  in  Classical  Literature,  p.  164, 
Westminster,  1901)  who  states  that  the  White  Huns  living  farther  north  than  India 
highly  prize  the  emerald,  and  wear  it  when  set  in  a  crown,  for  the  Ethiopians,  who 
traffic  with  the  Blemmyes  in  Ethiopia,  carry  this  same  stone  into  India,  and  with  the 
price  they  obtain  make  purchases  of  the  most  beautiful  articles.  The  tradition  of 
the  Agastimata,  as  pointed  out  by  Finot  (p.  XLIV),  seems  to  allude  likewise  to  Egypt 
as  to  the  derivation  of  the  emerald.  The  Egyptian  emerald  has  been  studied  by  O. 
Schneider  and  A.  Arzruni  {Zeitschrift  fur  Ethnologie,  Vol.  XXIV,  1892,  pp.  41-100). 
The  Greeks  seem  to  have  obtained  their  emeralds  from  Egypt;  the  Greek  word  is 
connected  with  Semitic  baraqt  or  bdreqet  (Daremberg  and  Saglio,  Vol.  II,  p.  1467, 
and  O.  Schrader,  Reallexikon,  p.  153),  but  possibly  also  with  Egyptian  mafek-ma 
or  mafek-en-md  (R.  Lepsius,  Les  mitaux  dans  les  inscriptions  ^gyptiennes,  p.  43, 
Paris,  1877).  The  reports  of  the  Arabic  geographers  on  the  Egyptian  emerald-mines 
are  translated  by  Wiedemann  (Zur  Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  239,  Erlangen,  1912). 


56     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

tsie-mu-lu  seems  to  go  back  directly  to  the  Persian  word  zumurrtid,^ 
and  it  seems  quite  plausible  that  the  Chinese  obtained  emeralds  in  their 
considerable  trade  with  Persia.  Possibly  the  Chinese  have  made  their 
first  acquaintance  with  emeralds  at  the  end  of  %he  Mongol  period.^ 

Let  us  now  revert  to  the  history  of  the  turquois  in  China.  T'ao 
Tsung-i,  the  author  of  the  interesting  work  Cho  keng  lu  (first  published 
in  1366)  replete  with  valuable  information  concerning  the  Mongol 
period,  has  embodied  in  it  a  brief  enumeration  of  the  precious  stones  of 
the  Mohammedans,  which  were  traded  to  China  in  his  time  (Ch.  7, 
pp.  5  b-7  b,  edition  of  1469).  The  last  group  of  these  stones  is  desig- 
nated tien-tse  (Giles's  Dictionary,  No.  11,180,  but  not  noted  with  this 
meaning).^  Three  kinds  of  these  are  distinguished:  first,  Ni-she-pu-ti, 
that  is,  stones  from  Nishapur  in  Persia,  called  the  Mohammedan  tien-tse 
whose  veins  are  fine ;  secondly,  Ki-U-ma-ni,  that  is,  stones  from  Kerman 
in  Persia,  called  Host  tien-tse  (that  is,  tien-tse  used  in  the  country  of 

1  Horn,  Neupersische  Schriftsprache,  p.  6  {Grundriss  der  iranischen  Philologie 
I,  2)  and  F.  Jusxi,  Kurdische  Grammatik,  p.  XVI  (St.  Petersburg,  1880).  In  the 
Taoist  novel  Feng  shen  yen  i  emeralds  are  mentioned  as  composing  the  umbrella  of 
Virupaksha.  In  W.  Grube's  posthumous  work  (Metamorphosen'der  Gotter,  p.  512, 
Leiden,  1912)  the  name  tsu'-mu-lu  has  not  been  recognized  as  a  foreign  word  and' 
is  literally  translated  from  the  meaning  pf  the  Chinese  characters  "Grandmother 
green,"  while  the  editor  H.  Mueller  in  the  index  compiled  by  him  (p.  651)  explains 
it  as  "pearls";  also  the  variant  tsii-mu-pi  there  employed  means  "emeralds."  The 
same  manner  of  writing  the  word  (tsu-mu-lu)  is  employed  also  by  Yang  Shen  (Ko  chi 
king  yiian,  Ch.  33,  p.  i)  and  by  Ku  Ying-t'ai  in  his  Po  wu  yao  Ian  (ibid.)  written  be- 
tween 1621  and  1627.  A  curious  error  occurs  in  R.  Pumpelly,  Geological  Re-i 
searches,  p.  1 18  (Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  Vol.  XV,  Washington,  1867) 
who  in  a  discussion  of  the  mineral  production  of  Yiin-nan  remarks:  "Emeralds  are 
very  rare,  and  although  the  Chinese  name  is  lieupaoshi  [i.  e.  Itl  pao  shi]  (green  precious 
stone),  they  are  known  among  lapidaries  as  Sz'mulu,  the  name  of  Sumatra,  whence 
they  are  probably  obtained."  The  Chinese  word  in  question  is  not  a  designation  of 
Sumatra  which  was  known  to  the  Chinese  under  the  names  Shi-li-fo-shi  and  San-fo- 
ts'i  (see  Hirth  and  Rockhill,  Chau  Ju-kua,  p.  63),  nor  is  emerald  known  to  be  found 
on  Sumatra. 

2  Bretschneider,  Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  174.  But  at  an  earlier  date 
they  heard  of  emeralds  in  the  translations  of  Buddhist  Sanskrit  works.  In  one  of 
the  series  of  the  so-called  Seven  Jewels  (saptaratna)  the  emerald  appears  in  the  second 
place  following  the  diamond,  and  is  transcribed  in  the  form  mo-lo-kia-t'o  rendered  into 
Chinese  "green-colored  bead"  (lii  se  chu)  identical  with  harinmani,  one  of  the 
Sanskrit  synonyms  of  the  emerald.  Compare  Kiao  ch'engfa  shu  (Ch.  7,  p.  3,  Hang- 
chou,  1878),  a  Buddhist  dictionary  of  numerical  categories  written  by  Yiian  Tsing 
in  1431  (Wylie,  Notes,  p.  211). 

^  In  fact,  none  of  our  dictionaries  contains  the  word  tien-tse  with  the  meaning  of 
turquois,  nor  even  does  K'ang-hi's  Dictionary.  The  origin  and  significance  of  the 
word  is  somewhat  embarrassing,  as  it  cannot  be  explained  from  any  meaning  assigned 
to  the  character  tien  (No.  11,180).  In  my  opinion,  a  confusion  of  characters  has 
been  in  operation  in  writing  the  word.  It  was  intended  for  the  character  tien 
(No.  11,179)  whose  meaning  is  "to  inlay  objects  with  stones,  inlaid  or  incrustated 
work."  From  this  verbal  noun,  the  new  word  tien-tse  was  derived  with  the  sense 
"stones  for  inlaying,"  one  of  the  main  purposes  for  which  turquoises  are  employed, 
and  hence  quite  an  appropriate  designation.  In  the  Ming  period  (Ko  ku  yao  luti 
and  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  see  below)  we  find  a  new  mode  of  writing  the  word  tien-tse, 
with  the  character  tien  (No.  11,199)  meaning  "indigo,"  which  might  have  been 
prompted  by  an  association  of  the  color  of  the  stone  with  that  of  indigo. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  57 

the  Tangutans)  whose  veins  are  coarse;  thirdly,  stones  of  King-chou, 
called  tien-tse  of  Siang-yang  whose  color  is  changeable.  It  is  easy  to 
see,  and  Bretschneider  ^  has  already  pointed  it  out,  that  the  turquois 
of  Nishapur  and  Kerman  is  understood  here,^  and  it  hence  follows  that 
Siang-yang  tien-tse  must  have  the  meaning  "turquois  of  Siang-yang." 
Siang-yang  is  a  city  and  prefecture  of  Hu-pei  Province,  and  King-chou 
is  the  name  of  an  ancient  province  comprising  parts  of  the  present 
provinces  of  Hu-nan  and  Hu-pei.  The  changing  of  color,  indeed,  fits 
the  turquois,  since  its  blue  shades  often  fade  to  a  pale  green  on  long 
exposure  to  the  light.'  If  this  conclusion  is  correct,  this  would  be  the 
oldest  Chinese  reference  to  a  turquois-producing  locality  in  China 
proper  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  the  first  authentic 
use  of  a  word  for  turquois  in  the  Chinese  language.*  It  is  interesting 
that  Tu  Wan  in  his  lapidarium  of  1133  (Ch.  a,  p.  11 ;  see  p.  23)  devotes 
a  notice  to  stones  of  Siang-yang  employed  for  building  purposes,  but.  has 
no  allusion  to  turquois  of  this  or  any  other  locality.  It  is  therefore 
obvious  that,  while  quarries  existed  in  that  place  during  the  Sung 
period,  the  turquois  had  then  not  yet  made  its  appearance,  and  the 
fact  is  confirmed  that  the  turquois  mines  were  not  operated  before 

1  Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  175. 

2  See  above  pp.  40-42. 

'  This  peculiar  property  of  the  turquois  is  well  known.  Ibn  al-BaitSr  says  after 
al-Kindi  who  (according  to  Wiedemann,  Zur  Alchemic  bei  den  Arabern,  Journal 
fiir  praktische  Chemie,  1907,  p.  73)  died  shortly  after  870  A.  D.,'that  "the  turquois 
changes  its  color  on  contact  with  an  oily  substance;  also  perspiration  affects  it  [this  is 
mentioned  likewise  by  Boetius  de  Boot,  /.  c,  p.  269.and  Max  Bauer,  Edelstein- 
kunde,  p.  488]  and  entirely  deprives  it  of  its  color;  contact  with  musk  has  a  similar 
effect  and  destroys  its  value;  Aristotle  holds  the  opinion  that  a  stone  thus  changing 
color  has  no  value  for  its  wearer"  (L.  Leclerc,  /.  c,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  51).  In  Pseudo- 
Aristotle  (J.  RusKA,  /.  c,  p.  152)  the  purity  of  color  in  the  stone  is  ascribed  to  the 
purity  of  the  atmosphere  which,  when  the  latter  becomes  impure,  causes  the  stone 
to  become  dim;  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  molten  gold,  its  beauty  disappears. 
The  latter  clause  is  dubious.  The  sentence  imputed  to  Aristotle  is  not  traceable  to 
him;  neither  Aristotle  nor  Theophrast  make  mention  of  the  turquois.  The  alteration 
of  color  gave  rise  to  the  belief  in  the  west  that  the  stone  foretold  misfortune,  or  that 
the  stone,  when  its  owner  sickens,  will  grow  pale,  and  at  his  death  lose  color  entirely. 
Ben  Jonson  (i 574-1 637),  the  dramatist,  in  his  Sejanus,  has  the  verse:  "And  true 
as  Turkise  in  the  deare  lord's  ring,  Looke  well  or  ill  with  him."  Fenton  (Secret 
Wonders  of  Nature,  1569)  says:  "The  Turkeys  doth  move  when  there  is  any  perill 
prepared  to  him  that  weareth  it." 

*  The  quarrying  of  turquois  in  Hui-ch"uan,  Yun-nan  Province,  mentioned  for  the 
year  1290  in  the  Yiian  shi  (see  p.  26,  Note  3)  is,  of  course,  older  in  fact.  The  Cho 
keng  lu,  however,  is  our  starting-point  in  unraveling  the  mystery,  as  it  affords  the 
means  of  determining  in  an  unobjectionable  manner  the  significance  of  the  word 
tien-tse.  With  this  authentic  evidence  in  our  hands  we  can  hope  to  attack  success- 
fully the  passages  in  the  Yiian  shi  where  this  word  is  employed,  while  it  is  not  there 
explained.  Besides,  we  have  the  important  testimony  of  Marco  Polo,  as  pointed 
out  before,  which  enables  us  to  establish  with  certainty  the  fact  that  turquois  was 
known  and  mined  in  China  during  the  Mongol  period.  Marco  Polo  was  familiar 
with  the  turquois,  as  shown  by  his  remarks  on  the  turquois-quarries  in  the  province 
of  Kerman  in  Persia,  so  that  his  turquois  in  the  province  of  Caindu  cannot  be  called 
into  doubt. 


58     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth,,  Vol.  XIII. 

the  Mongol  period.  It  is  noteworthy,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  that 
at  present  turquoises  are  still  mined  in  Hu-pei.  If  we  now  recall  the 
account  of  Marco  Polo  (p.  16),  it  seems  we  are  justified  in  saying  that 
the  Chinese  became  acquainted  with  the  turquois  not  earlier  than  in 
the  Yuan  or  Mongol  period,  that  is  to  say,  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries.  This  early  mining  in  Hu-pei  cannot  have  been  of  great 
importance,  as  it  is  not  alluded  to  in  later  sources.  We  further  observe 
that  the  Persian  turquois  bebame  known  to  the  Chinese  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  was  considered  as  superior  to  the  domestic  stone.^ 

This  identification  enables  us  to  recognize  the  turquois  also  in  the 
Yiian  shi,  the  Chinese  Annals  of  the  Mongol  Dynasty,  where  it  is  called 
pi  tien,  or  pi  tien-tse,  "green  or  blue  tien"  (the  word  tien  being  identical 
with  the  above-mentioned  word  of  the  Cho  keng  lu).  It  entered  the 
robe  of  the  emperor  and  courtiers,  and  gold  beads  and  turquoises  are 
especially  mentioned  as  used  for  earrings  (Yiian  shi,  Ch.  78,  p.  13  b). 
The  Mongols  were  doubtless  acquainted  with  the  turquois  long  before 
their  occupation  of  China,  either  through  the  Tibetans  or  Turkish  tribes 
or  through  both.  We  know  that  among  the  antiquities  of  the  bronze 
age  of  Siberia  gold  plaques  incrusted  with  turquois  and  emeralds  have 
been  found  ^  and,  aside  from  Egypt,  this  ancient  Siberian  technique 
possibly  represents  the  oldest  employment  of  the  turquois  in  the  world. 
To  the  Chinese  it  was  an  alien  substance  which  never  became  a  national 
factor  in  their  jewelry.  They  made  its  acquaintance  through  Turks, 
Persians,  Tibetans,  and  Mongols,  and  I  am  under  the  impression  that  the 
Mongol  rulers  were  the  first  to  introduce  it  into  China,  and  that  their 
utilization  of  the  stone  gave  impetus  to  the  discovery  of  turquois  mines 
on  Chinese  soil,  and  led  to  the  turquois  monopoly  related  by  Marco 
Polo  which  has  been  mentioned  above  (p.  16)  in  the  notes  on  Tibet. 
Also  the  reports  of  turquoises  sent  from  the  circuit  of  Hui-ch'uan  in 
Yun-nan  Province  in  the  years  1284  and  1290  related  in  the  Yuan  shi 
(compare  above  p.  26,  note  3)  may  be  set  in  causal  connection  with  the 
craving  of  the  Mongol  sovereigns  for  this  stone. 

At  the  rise  of  the  Yiian  Dynasty,  the  rule  was  established  that  prod- 
ucts like  gold,  silver,  pearls,  jade,  copper,  iron,  mercury,  cinnabar,  and 

1  At  this  point  we  should  stop  to  reflect  again  whether,  after  all,  the  mining  of 
turquois  in  Persia  on  an  extensive  scale  is  not  earlier  than  the  Mohammedan  period. 
Compare  above  p.  40. 

2  KoNDAKOFF,  ToLSTOi  and  Reinach,  Antiqujt^s  de  la  Russie  m^ridionale, 
pp.  404, 405 ;  S.  Reinach,  La  representation  du  galop  dans  I'art  ancien  et  moderne,  p.  66 
(Paris,  1901).  As  far  as  I  know,  these  turquoises  have  never  been  examined  by  a 
competent  mineralogist,  nor  have  they  been  traced  to  their  place  of  origin.  Bauer 
has  nothing  to  say  concerning  the  occurrence  of  turquois  in  Siberia.  The  Armenian 
lapidarium  of  the  seventeenth  century  (translated  by  K.  P.  Patkanov,  /.  c,  p.  48) 
gives  Siberia  as  the  fourth  source  for  the  turquois,  and  adds  that  this  kind  does  not 
command  any  price. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  -      5q 

turquoises  offered  to  the  throne  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  regions  where 
the  said  products  were  found  should  be  charged  to  the  annual  taxes 
due  to  them.i  The  localities  for  the  production  of  turquoises,  on  this 
occasion,  are  given  as  Ho-lin  and  Hui-ch"uan.  The  former  place  is 
mentioned  again  under  the  Mongols  in  the  year  1 271  to  the  effect  that  a 
certain  Umala  collected  turquoises  {pi  tien-tse)  at  Ho-lin.^ 

Ho-lin  is  the  Chinese  designation  for  Karakorum,''  the  famous 
residence  of  the  first  successors  to  Chinggis  Khan,  Ogotai,  Kuyuk  and 
Mangu,  and  a  large  industrial  and  commercial  centre  in  the  Mongol 
period.  It  is  not  known  whether  turquoises  occurred  or  are  now  found 
in  the  environments  of  that  ancient  capital,  that  is,  in  the  basin  of  the 
•Orkhon  river,  and  it  may  very  well  be  that  Karakorum,  during  the 
.  thirteenth  century,  was  merely  a  staple-place  for  them,  whence  they 
were  traded  to  the  Mongol  and  Tungusian  tribes.  In  Yuan-shi  (Ch.  94, 
§  2,  p.  i)  turquoises  are  enumerated  among  the  natural  products  of 
the  empire  together  with  gold,  silver,  pearls,  jade,  copper,  iron,  mercury, 
vermilion,  lead,  tin,  alum,  saltpetre,  and  carbonate  of  natron. 

It  is  thus  evident  that  in  the  Mongol  period  at  least  three  turquois- 
mines  were  in  operation,  in  Hu-pei,  Yun-nan,  and  Sze-ch'uan  (Marco 
Polo's  Caindu). 

Also  from  Tibet  turquoises  were  imported  into  China  during  that 
period.  This  may  be  inferred  from  a  remark  of  Ts'ao  Chao  who  pub- 
lished in  1387  the  Ko  ku  yao  lun,  a  collection  of  notes  on  art  and  anti- 
quities. This  was  in  the  beginning  of*  the  Ming  dynasty  which  rose  in 
1368,  so  that  the  author  must  have  lived  through  the  last  years  of  the 
Yiian.  He  avails  himself  for  the  turquois  of  the  peculiar  Yiian  expres- 
sion pi  tien-tse,  but  using  a  different  character  to  write  tien,  identical 
with  the  word  for  'indigo'  (No.  11,199),  so  that  the  name  would  mean 
'blue  indigo  sons.'  He  gives  as  localities  for  these  stones  the  regions  of 
the  southern  and  western  Tibetans  {Nan-fan,  Si-fan  ^)  and  describes 
them  as  of  blue  and  green  color,  adding  that  good  ones  come  somewhat 
near  to  the  price  of  a  horse,  a  statement  evidently  copied  from  the 
Wu  Tai  shi  in  regard  to  the  se-se  of  the  Tibetan  women,  referred  to 
above.'  He  further  says  that  they  are  of  the  class  of  beacls,  and  that 
1  Kin-t'ing  se  wen  hien  t'ung  k'ao,  Ch.  23,  p.  3. 

'  i^i^-'  ?•  ^  ^-  Hui-chou,  as  written  in  this  work,  is  a  mistake  for  Hui-ch'uan  as 
proved  by  the  parallel  passage  in  Yiian  shi,  Ch.  94,  §2,  pp.  i  b,  2  a. 

3  Bretschneider,  Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  122;  Vol.  II,  p.  162. 

"  From  our  standpoint  eastern  Tibetans;  they  border  on  the  west  of  China  and 
live  partially  on  territory  belonging  to  the  political  administration  of  China. 

'For  the  rest  this  is  merely  phraseology  which  cannot  be  taken  very  seriously 
In  China  as  elsewhere  stock-phrases  are  formed  in  the  wav  of  literary  allusions  and 
bons  mots  for  stylistic  purposes,  and  it  would  be  preposterous  to  see  in  these  a  founda- 
tion ot  real  fact.  Thus  the  phrase,  "bead  or  pearl  of  the  value  of  a  horse, "  is  one  of  the 


6o     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

there  are  also  those  of  black  and  green  hues  which  are  low  in  price.  In 
another  work  of  the  Ming  period,  the  Po  wu  yao  Ian  (published  between 
1 62 1  and  1627),  the  precious  stones  of  Tibet  are  enumerated,  the  series 
being  closed  by  a  "blue  precious  stone,  light-blue  in  color  like  the  hue 
of  the  sky."  As  the  word  pao  shi,  'precious  stone'  is  used  here,  I  am 
not  certain  whether  the  turquois  is  meant. 

In  Chinese  pottery  occurs  a  deep-blue  glaze  well  known  to  collectors 
under  the  name  of  turquois  glaze.  It  has  sometimes  .been  supposed 
that  this  glaze  was  intended  to  imitate  the  color  of  turquois,  as  is,  e.  g., 
stated  in  the  "Catalogue  of  the  Morgan  Collection  of  Chinese  Porce- 
lains." ^  This  view,  however,  is  erroneous;  "turquois  glaze"  is  merely 
a  designation  of  foreign  origin,  whereas,  in  the  minds  of  the  Chinese, 
the  glaze  has  no  relation  to  the  turquois.  This  glaze  is  produced  by 
means  of  a  silicate  of  copper  known  to  the  Chinese  as  fei  ts'ui  from  its 
resemblance  to  the  color  of  the  plumes  of  the  kingfisher,  or  as  k'ung-tsio 
lii,  "peacock  green."^  This  glaze  appears  for  the  first  time  in  the  pottery 
of  the  Sung  period  (960-1279)^  and  was  in  full  swing  during  the  time 
of  the  Ming  dynasty,  being  applied  to  porcelain  as  successfully  as  to 
faience.  During  these  two  periods,  the  turquois  was  hardly  known  to 
the  Chinese,  or  played  no  r61e  in  their  life.'* 

The  modem  word  lii  sung  shi,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  does  not  occur 
earlier  than  the  eighteenth  century,^  and  it  may  be  presumed  also  that 

school  reminiscences  reiterated  by  several  authors.  As  early  as  in  the  Lapidarium 
of  Tu  Wan  {Yiin  lin  shi  p'u,  published  in  1133)  we  find  it  stated  (Ch.  2,  p.  7)  that  on 
the  waste  land  of  the  Temple  of  the  White  Horse  {Pai  ma  sze)  east  of  Ho-nan  fu, 
after  a  heavy  rain,  fine  stones  of  a  deep  purple  and  green  color  are  found  in  the 
ground  which  belong  "to  the  class  of  beads  having  the  price  of  a  Tibetan  horse; 
others  of  these  beads  are  light-green  with  many  veins  and  speckles,  and  some  are 
made  into  carvings  of  objects  and  images;  deep-green  ones  are  high  in  price."  "These 
stones,"  concludes  the  author,  "are  produced  in  foreign  countries,  and  are  found  also 
in  the  soil  near  the  ancient  capitals  of  Si-ngan  fu  and  Lb-yang.  (Ho-nan)."  If  it 
were  permissible  to  regard  these  stones  as  imported  turquoises,  additional  negative 
evidence  would  be  furnished  that  turquois  was  not  yet  mined  in  China  during  the 
Sung  period.  Also  Li  Shi-ch6n  (in  his  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  Ch.  8,  p.  17  b)  uses  the 
term  '  bead  of  the  value  of  a  horse '  (ma  kia  chu)  as  a  designation  for  kingfisher-blue 
stones. 

1  Vol.  II,  p.  78  (New  York,  191 1). 

^  Compare  S.  W.  Bushell,  Oriental  Ceramic  Art,  pp.  265,  315,  376  (New  York, 
1899). 

^  Laufer,  Chinese  Pottery,  p.  316. 

*  There  is  a  popular  tradition  in  Tibet  in  regard  to  blue-glazed  Chinese  faience 
tiles  with  which  some  temples  are  roofed  that  the  first  king  Srong-btsan  sgam-po  of 
the  seventh  century  had  produced  the  glaze  by  melting  an  immense  quantity  of 
turquois  for  the  purpose  (S.  Chandra  Das,  Narrative  of  a  Journey  round  Lake 
Yamdo,  p.  49,  Calcutta,  1887). 

^  It  is  certainly  possible,  as  in  the  case  of  the  word  pi-ya-se,  that  also  the  word  lii 
sung  shi  belonging  to  the  colloquial  language  may  be  of  earlier  date  than  we  at  pres- 
ent suspect;  but  as  the  older  sources  regarding  the  every  day  language  are  very  scarce, 
we  can  not  yet  offer  any  positive  evidence. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  61 

the  exploitation  of  turquois  mines  in  China  was  taken  up  again  only 
at  that  time,  while  it  was  interrupted  during  the  Ming  period.  In  the 
records  of  the  Ming  and  Ts'ing  dynasties,  there  is  no  reference  to 
quarrying  turquois.  The  great  work  on  natural  history  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  the  Pen  ts'ao  kang  mu,  has  nothing  to  say  regarding  this 
matter.  In  the  K'ien-lung  period  (1736-95)  turquois  was  occasionally 
used  in  the  imperial  manufacture  at  Peking,  as  we  may  ascertain  from 
several  specimens  in  the  Bishop  collection  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum 
of  New  York.  It  contains,  for  instance,  a  scabbard  of  chiseled  repousse 
gold  decorated  with  the  eight  Buddhist  emblems  {pa  poo)  carved  in 
turquois,  apparently  intended  as  a  gift  for  some  Mongol  prince,  and 
an  imperial  knife  marked  with  K 'ten-lung's  seal,  the  handle  being 
studded  with  lapis  lazuli,  camelian  and  turquois.^ 

It  appears  that  the  Manchu  emperors  with  their  predilection  for 
Lamaism  and  their  interests  in  the  Mongols  and  Tibetans  derived  the 
application  of  turquois  from  these  peoples,  and  followed  in  this  respect 
the  trail  of  the  Mongol  emperors.  Among  the  Chinese  these  stones 
never  became  popular.^  They  were  occasionally  employed  for  inlaying, 
but  then  in  connection  with  other  stones  to  produce  certain  color 
effects.  BusHELL  ^  figures  a  box  of  carved  red  lacquer,  decorated  with 
floral  designs,  the  fruit,  flowers  and  other  details  inlaid  in  green  and 
yellow  jade,  lapis  lazuli,  turquois  and  amethystine  quartz.  In  the 
Chinese  collection  in  the  Field  Museum  there  is  a  pair  of  jade  trees  in 
pots  of  cloisonne  enamel,  the  leaves  of  which  are  beautifully  carved  out 
of  turquois.'* 

It  was  for  the  first  time  also  in  the  K'ien-lung  period  that  the  stone 
was  officially  adopted  and  its  use  sanctioned  for  the  imperial  cult. 

Turquoises  enter  the  imperial  robe  on  some  occasions,  as  recorded 

^  See  Bishop,  Investigations  and  Studies  in  Jade,  Vol.  II,  p.  244. 

^  This  lack  of  popularity  is  best  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  turquois  does  not 
appear  in  the  Chinese  materia  medica  as  it  does  in  India  and  Tibet,  nor  are  there  any 
superstitious  beliefs  regarding  it.  This  is  remarkable  considering  among  the  Chinese 
the  widest  utilization  for  medicinal  purposes  of  all  substances  occurring  in  the  three 
kingdoms  of  nature. 

'  Chinese  Art,  Vol.  I,  p.  133. 

*  Figured  in  Jade,  Plates  LXVI  and  LXVII.  The  model  of  the  Chinese  jade 
trees  presumably  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  Bodhi  trees  of  India  made  from  precious 
stones  and  metals.  The  Great  Chronicle  of  Ceylon  (W.  Geiger,  The  Mahavarnsa, 
p.  203,  London,  1912)  from  about  the  sixth  century  A.  D.  has  this  report:  "In  the 
midst  of  the  relic-chamber  the  king  placed  a  Bodhi  tree  made  of  jewels,  splendid  in 
every  way.  It  had  a  stem  eighteen  cubits  high  and  five  branches;  the  root,  made  of 
coral,  rested  on  sapphire.  The  stem  made  of  perfectly  pure  silver  was  adorned  with 
leaves  made  of  gems,  had  withered  leaves  and  fruits  of  gold  and  young  shoots  made  of 
coral.  The  eight  auspicious  figures  [these  are,  lion,  bull,  elephant,  water-pitcher, 
fan,  standard,  conch-shell,  lamp]  were  on  the  stem  and  festoons  of  flowers  and 
beautiful  rows  of  four-footed  beasts  and  rows  of  geese."  Then  follows  a  description 
of  the  canopy  consisting  of  pearls  and  precious  stones. 


62     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

in  the  ''Institutes  of  the  Manchu  Dynasty"  {Ta  Ts'ing  hui  tien  fu, 
Ch.  42).  When  the  emperor  officiates  in  the  Temple  of  Heaven  (T'ien 
fan),  he  wears  a  rosary  of  lapis  lazuli  beads;  in  the  Temple  of  Earth 
(Ti  fan),  one  of  amber  beads,  yellow  being  the  color  of  Earth;  in  the 
Temple  of  the  Sun  (Ji  fan) ,  one  of  corals ;  and  in  the  Temple  of  the  Moon 
{YUe  fan)  one  of  turquoises  (lii  sung  shi) ;  while  the  girdle  for  the  service 
in  the  latter  temple  is  set  with  white  jade.^  The  ordinary  imperial 
court-girdle  consists  of  yellow  silk  and  is  adorned  with  rubies  or  sap- 
phires and  turquoises.  Also  in  the  State  Handbook  of  the  Manchu 
Dynasty  (Huang  ch'ao  U  kH  fu  shi)  turquoises  are  repeatedly  mentioned 
as  entering  imperial  helmets  and  sword-sheaths,  also  as  employed  for 
the  jewelry  of  the  empress  and  the  court-ladies.  They  usually  were 
combined  with  river  pearls,  corals,  and  lapis  lazuli.^ 

1  Color  symbolism  is  an  ancient  and  conspicuotis  feature  of  Chinese  rites,  and  was 
originally  associated  with  the  four  quarters  and  the  cosmic  deities  who  were  linked 
with  the  latter  (compare  Jade,  p.  120) ;  at  a  later  time  it  was  affiliated  also  with  the 
five  elements  and  other  categories  of  five  (a  comparative  table  of  these  associations 
is  given  by  A.  Forke,  Lun-h6ng,  Vol.  II,  p.  440).  The  Chinese  system  has  already 
been  compared  with  those  found  in  North  America  and  Mexico  by  Mrs.  Zelia 
NuTTALL,  The  Fundamental  Principles  of  Old  and  New  World  Civilizations  {Arch, 
and  Ethn.  Papers,  Peabody  Museum,  Vol.  II,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1901,  pp.  286,  293), 
with  the  result  that,  "whilst  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  system  was  identical, 
the  mode  of  carrying  it  out  was  different  in  China  and  America,  a  fact  which  indicates 
independence  and  isolation  at  the  period  when  elements  and  colors,  etc.,  were  chosen 
and  assigned  to  the  directions  in  space."  The  whole  problem,  of  course,  is  not  histor- 
ical but  purely  psychological. — In  the  imperial  worship  of  the  Manchu  dynasty,  as 
shown  above,  color  symbolism  was  still  fully  alive.  In  the  Temple  of  Heaven  covered 
with  blue-glazed  faience  tiles,  everything  was  blue  during  the  ceremonies,  the 
sacrificial  utensils  being  of  blue  porcelain,  the  participants  in  the  rites  being  robed  in 
blue  brocades,  and  Venetian  shades  made  of  thin  rods  of  blue  glass  were  hung  over 
the  windows,  in  order  to  lend  also  to  the  atmosphere  a  tinge  of  blue.  At  the  Temple 
of  Earth,  all  was  yellow;  at  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  red;  and  at  the  Temple  of  the 
Moon,  everything  was  brilliant  with  a  moonlight  white. 

^  In  the  Sungari  River,  a  light-green  stone  of  unctuous  appearance  is  found  which 
is  utilized  for  the  making  of  ink-slabs.  It  is  called  in  Chinese  sung  hua  yii,  lit.,  pine- 
tree  flower  jade,  but  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  turquois  nor  with  jade.  The  Manchu 
name  Sungari  means  in  the  Manchu  language  the  Milky  Way,  and  is  popularly  called 
in  Chinese,  with  reference  to  the  Manchu  sounds.  Sung  hua  kiang,  "Pine-tree  Flower 
River,"  while  the  designations  of  the  Chinese  written  language  are  Hun-t'ung  Kiang 
or  Hei  Shui  ("Black  Water").  The  meaning  of  the  stone  sung  hua  yii,  accordingly, 
is  "precious  stone  of  the  Sungari  River."  Compare  Man-chou  yiian  liu  k'ao,  Ch.  19, 
pp.  1-2  (a  work  on  the  History  of  the  Manchu  published  in  1777).  When  the  records 
of  the  Manchu  dynasty  mention  turquois  in  combination  with  pearls,  this  is  not  a 
contradiction  to  what  has  been  stated  above  regarding  this  point  (p.  31).  The  pearls 
of  the  imperial  house  were  cheap  river  pearls  known  as  eastern  pearls  {tung  chu),  a 
product  of  Manchuria.  They  were  fished  in  the  Sungari  and  its  side-rivers,  and  are 
described  as  brilliant-white  nearly  half  an  inch  (Chinese)  big,  even  the  smallest  of 
the  size  of  the  seed  of  a  soy-bean.  They  were  chiefly  utilized  on  the  crowns  of  the 
caps  of  royal  princes,  their  number  marking  differences  of  rank  {Man-chou  yiian  liu 
k'ao,  Ch.  19,  p.  i).  The  shell  yielding  this  pearl  has  been  identified  with  Anodonta 
plicata  Sol.  (compare  Grum-Grzhimailo,  Description  of  the  Amur  Province,  in 
Russian,  p.  358,  St.  Petersburg,  1894,  where  some  information  regarding  the  pearl 
industry  of  the  Amur  region  is  given). — The  word  for  lapis  lazuli  in  the  State  Hand- 
book is  ts'ing  kin  shi  (see  p.  44).  Beads  made  from  this  stone  were  chiefly  employed 
for  ornaments  of  the  empress  and  court-ladies,  likewise  for  the  adornment  of  cere- 
monial head-dresses. 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  63 

At  the  present  time  there  are  two  distributing  centers  in  China  for 
the  trade  in  turquoises, —  Peking  commanding  the  market  of  MongoHa, 
and  Si-ngan  fu  controlHng  the  trade  with  Tibet.  In  Si-ngan  fu  there 
may  be  a  dozen  traders  engaged  in  the  business.  They  are  all  settled 
in  the  same  street  and  work  up  the  raw  material  in  their  own  shops. 
They  produce  beads  and  fiat  stones  (Plate  VI,  Fig.  i)  in  any  desired 
dimensions,  by  grinding  and  polishing,  and  drill  perforations  through 
them.  The  latter  is  an  essential  operation  as  Tibetans  are  averse  to 
accept  any  others  (except  the  small  beads  to  be  set  in  rings  or  the 
plaques  for  inlaying  earrings  and  charm  boxes).  The  first  experiment 
that  a  Tibetan  will  make  with  a  turquois  offered  is  to  ascertain  the 
quality  of  the  perforation  by  blowing  or  spitting  through  it,  or  by  boring 
it  with  a  needle.  If  the  experiment  is  unsuccessful,  he  will  return  it  at 
once.  At  Si-ngan  the  stones  are  sold  by  weight,  prices  ranging  according 
to  quality  from  5-8  Taels  (about  $3.50  to  $5.60)  a  catty  (i>^  pounds). 
Exceptionally  beautiful  stones  or  very  small  and  carefully  polished 
beads  are  sold  as  individual  items  only.  Beads  and  stones  are  pur- 
chased there  by  Chinese  commercial  travelers  trading  with  Tibetans 
and  employed  by  them  as  a  means  of  barter.  Their  example  was  duly 
adopted,  and  a  great  many  specimens  were  secured  by  me  in  Tibet  in 
exchange  for  turquoises. 

Of  worked  articles  of  the  Chinese  the  quadrangular,  flat  stones 

(Plate  VI,  Fig.  i)  and  the  large  beads  for  use  in  rosaries  come  first. 

Then  there  are  fanciful  carvings  formed  into  the  appearance  of  rocks 

(Plate  VI,  Figs.  2-4)  or  birds  (Plate  VII,  Fig.  i)  destined  to  adorn  the 

table  of  a  Lama  and  to  serve  as  paper-weights ;  further,  figures  of  animals 

like  that  of  a  tiger  or  a  fish  to  be  suspended  as  ornaments  from  a  girdle 

(Plate  VII,  Figs.  3  and  4);  snuff  bottles  (Fig.  2)  skilfully  hollowed  out, 

and  buttons  (Fig.  5)  with  double  edge  cut  into  the  petals  of  a  flower  to 

be  sewed  on  to  a  cap,  or  a  fillet  worn  by  women.     The  image  of  carved 

turquois  on  Plate  VII,  Fig.  6,  represents  the  Dhyanibuddha  Amitabha, 

made  in  Peking.     The  twelve  animals  of  the  solar  zodiac  (Plate  VIII) 

constituting  a  cycle  of  twelve  years,  each  year  being  named  for  one 

animal,  are  each  carved  from  turquois,  of  Peking  workmanship;  they 

represent  rat,  ox,  tiger,  hare,  dragon,  serpent,  horse,  sheep,  monkey, 

cock,  dog,  pig  or  boar.     Such  sets  are  made  for  wealthy  Mongols  to 

facilitate  the  counting  of  years.' 

^  The  carving  of  such  sets  is  not  a  modern  idea.  It  was  practised  as  early  as  the 
T'ang  period  when  marble  was  listed  for  this  purpose.  A  complete  set  of  the  animals 
does  not  seem  to  have  survived  from  that  epoch,  at  least  none  has  come  to  my  notice; 
but  a  certain  number  of  single  animals  belonging  to  different  sets,  obtained  by  me  in 
Si-ngan  fu,  is  in  the  collections  of  the  Field  Museum.  A  curious  set  carved  from 
nephrite  is  in  the  Bishop  collection  in  New  York  (see  Bishop,  Investigations  and 
Studies  in  Jade,  Vol.  II,  p.  241,  No.  730);  the  representatives  of  the  zodiac  have  hu- 


64    Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

The  Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill,^  who  passed  through  Si-ngan  in  1889, 
was  given  the  information  that  turquois  is  found  in  Ho-nan.  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  this  statement  for  the  mere 
reason  that  it  was  not  confirmed  to  me  in  1909;  for  even  in  China  con- 
siderable changes  are  bound  to  come  about  within  a  period  of  twenty 
years,  and  I  am  incHned  to  think  that  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  mines 
of  Ho-nan  have  since  been  exhausted. 

man  bodies  but  animal  heads,  they  are  clothed  in  costume  of  Chinese  style  and  hold 
objects  as  attributes  in  their  hands.  This  iconographic  composition  is  also  traceable 
to  the  T'ang  period,  as  may  be  evidenced  by  a  tombstone  in  the  collections  of  the 
Field  Museum;  this  contains  an  epitaph  (mu  chi)  yielding  the  date  861  A.  d.  The 
twelve  animals  of  the  cycle  are  here  arranged  in  four  groups  corresponding  to  the  four 
cardinal  points,  a  group  of  three  facing  one  of  the  sides  of  the  quadrangular  stone 
slab,  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  one  published  by  M.  Chavannes  {T'oung  Pao, 
1909,  p.  74)  from  a  Chinese  rubbing.  While,  however,  the  illustration  of  M. 
Chavannes  shows  figures  of  men,  that  is,  Chinese  officials  in  official  costume,  holding 
in  their  arms  the  respective  animal,  there  are  engraved  on  our  tombstone  figures  of 
men  with  human  bodies  clad  in  official  robes  and  holding  jade  insignia  of  rank  in  their 
hands,  but  each  having  the  head  of  the  particular  animal.  This  is  the  same  principle 
as  in  the  set  of  the  Bishop  collection  in  which  each  piece  is  an  independent  all-round 
carving.  In  the  rubbing  of  M.  Chavannes  the  idea  is  brought  out  of  the  officials 
presiding  over  the  twelve  animals,  whilst  in  the  two  other  series  the  animals  are 
themselves  conceived  as  officials.  The  same  ideas  are  expressed  in  the  iconography 
of  the  gods  of  the  Twenty-eight  Lunar  Mansions,  which  will  shortly  give  me  occasion 
for  some  remarks  with  reference  to  a  group  of  masks  in  our  collection  representing 
this  series  of  deities.  It  is  known  that  the  origin  and  diffusion  of  this  solar  zodiac 
based  on  a  division  into  twelve  parts  of  the  celestial  or  ecliptic  equator  has  given  rise 
to  many  discussions  and  theories.  I  was  formerly  inclined  (T'oung  Pao,  1907, 
p.  400,  and  1909,  p.  71)  to  accept  the  theory  of  Chavannes  (ibid.,  1906,  pp.  51-122) 
according  to  which  the  cycle  of  the  twelve  animals  would  have  originated  among 
Turkish  tribes  who  transmitted  it  to  the  Chinese.  Having  meanwhile  studied  the 
work  of  Franz  Boll,  "Sphaera"  (Leipzig,  1903),  and  the  same  author's  recent  paper, 
Der  ostasiatische  Tierzyklus  im  Hellenisrnus  {T'oung  Pao,  1912,  pp.  699-718),  I  hold 
that  his  arguments  in  favor  of  an  origin  of  the  cycle  within  the  sphere  of  Egyptian 
Hellenism  are,  in  general,  convincing  to  a  certain  extent,  though  much  would  remain 
to  be  done  in  detail  to  prove  the  migration  of  the  system  from  this  centre  to  the  Turks 
and  to  China.  There  is,  however,  an  objection  to  be  made  to  the  first  piece  of  evi- 
dence offered  by  Boll  on  behalf  of  the  dependence  of  the  Chinese  cycle  (p.  705): 
"In  the  Chinese  list  sacred  Egyptian  animals  have  survived,  particularly  the  monkey 
which  does  not  occur  on  the  cold  plateau  of  Central  Asia."  This  is  merely  an  old 
European  fable  which  seems  to  be  inexterminable,  and  which  has  already  been  refuted 
by  me  in  T'oung  Pao,  1901,  p.  28;  it  would  mean  to  shoot  sparrows  with  cannon  to 
march  up  here  the  whole  evidence  known  to  every  zoologist,  to  the  effect  that  mon- 
keys are  propagated  from  the  Himalaya  through  Tibet  into  the  mountains  of  Yiin- 
nan,  Sze-ch'uan  and  Kukunor  region,  and  throughout  central  and  southern  China. 
Chinese,  Tibetan,  and  all  other  Indo-Chinese  languages  possess  ancient  indigenous 
words  for  several  species  of  monkeys,  and  at  the  time  when  the  cycle  was  received  by 
the  Chinese,  the  monkey  was  very  familiar  to  them  and  frequently  represented  in  art. 
Another  more  serious  objection  to  be  advanced  to  the  essay  of  Boll  is  that  he  has  paid 
no  attention  to  the  arguments  which  induced  L.  de  Saussure  {T'oung  Pao,  1910, 
pp.  583-648)  and  A.  Forke  (Lun-htog,  Vol.  II,  pp.  479-494;  compare  also  the  addi- 
tional remarks  of  P.  Pelliot,  Journal  asiatique,  19 12,  Juillet-Aout,  p.  163)  to  defend 
the  indigenous  origin  of  the  cycle  in  China.  The  Chinese  tradition  entirely  unheeded 
by  Boll  can  not  be  so  easily  run  down,  and  though  he  has  stated  the  case  clearly  on  its 
historical  side,  there  remains  to  be  solved  the  psychological  part  of  the  problem 
which  has  not  yet  been  touched  upon. 

1  The  Land  of  the  Lamas,  p.  24  (London,  189 1). 


July,  1913."  Notes  on  Turquois.  65 

Bretschneider  ^  quotes  Pumpelly  (Geological  Researches  in 
China,  Mongolia,  Japan,  p.  118)  as  mentioning  the  existence  of  sung  ur 
shi,  a  mineral  similar  to  turquois,  in  the  province  of  Yiin-nan;  but  this 
statement  requires  confirmation,  as  it  is  not  found  in  other  sources 
relating  to  Yiin-nan  (compare  above  p.  26,  note  3).^ 

From  one  of  the  turquois  dealers  in  Si-ngan  fu  the  information  was 
given  me  that  the  turquoises  traded  there  come  from  the  prefecture  of 
Yiin-yang  in  Hu-pei  Province,  while  another  more  especially  pointed  to 
the  district  of  Chu-shan,  situated  in  the  same  prefecture,  as  the  place 
of  production.  The  Imperial  Geography  (Ta  TsHng  i  Vung  chi, 
Ch.  272),^  in  the  chapter  dealing  with  Yun-yang  fu,  contains  no  allusion 
to  this  fact,  and  mentions  in  an  enumeration  of  the  mountains  of  the 
Chu-shan  district  only  one  producing  stones,  the  Fan  shi  shan,  deriving 
its  name  from  the /aw  shi  or  alum  formerly  produced  there.  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Imperial  Geography,  as  far  as  products  are 
involved,  does  not  reflect  the  present  conditions  of  China  based  on  actual 
research,  but  merely  gives  occasional  quotations  from  older  literature 
going  back  as  far  as  the  T'ang  dynasty,  so  that  this  feature  of  the 
Geography  is  very  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory.  The  products  of 
Yiin-yang  fu,  for  instance,  are  all  cited  from  the  Geography  of  the  Ming 
DjTiasty  (Ta  Ming  i  t'ung  chi).  It  is  very  probable  that  the  turquois 
production  of  Yiin-yang  fu  is  of  recent  date,  and  presumably  posterior 
to  the  publication  of  the  Geography;  it  seems  to  me  that  the  exhaustion 
of  the  turquois  mines  in  Ho-nan  may  have  given  the  impetus  to  a  search 
for  a  new  locality  in  Hu-pei.     It  would  be  gratif3dng  if  these  lines  would 

1  Mediaeval  Researches,  Vol.  I,  p.  176. 

*  The  work  of  R.  Pumpelly  is  published  in  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowl- 
edge, Vol.  XV,  Article  IV,  Washington,  1867.  I  do  not  understand  Pumpelly  with 
Bretschneider  as  saying  that  "a  mineral  similar  to  turquois"  is  actually  found  in 
Yiin-nan.  Pumpelly  enumerates  it  in  a  series  of  eight  other  stones  of  which  he  says 
that  "they  are  carved,  with  great  labor  and  patience,  in  very  intricate  forms."  He 
does  not  point  out  any  locality  in  Yiin-nan,  where  turquois  is  obtained,  but  merely 
intends  to  say  that  he  has  seen  in  Yiin-nan  carvings  made  from  this  material 
which,  judging  from  the  Chinese  name  given  by  him,  doubtless  was  turquois.  But 
this  turquois  may  have  been  imported  into  Yiin-nan  as  well.  G.  S0UL16  (La  province 
du  Yiin-nan,  p.  24,  Hanoi,  1908)  only  states:  "The  south-western  part  of  the  prov- 
ince furnishes  a  certain  quantity  of  precious  stones  amassed  in  the  beds  of  torrents 
or  rivers;  the  west  and  south-west  of  the  province  are  renowned  for  their  amethysts, 
sapphires  and  rubies." 

'  First  printed  in  1745,  second  edition  1764.  The  modem  Shanghai  photolitho- 
graphic reprint  is  a  poor  production.  The  Palace  editions  of  this  work  are  now  ex- 
ceedingly scarce.  When  at  Si-ngan  fu  in  1902,  an  official  there  informed  me  that  the 
late  Empress  Dowager,  while  living  as  an  exile  in  that  city  in  1900,  was  anxious  to 
obtain  a  copy  for  personal  reading  and  wired  to  all  Governors  General  making  a 
requisition  for  it,  but  was  unable  to  procure  it.  Eight  years  later  fate  treated  me 
more  kindly  than  the  Empress  by  permitting  me  to  see  the  editio  princeps  in  the  hands 
of  a  Peking  bookseller,  but  lack  of  cash  (the  price  demanded  was  400  Mexican  Dol- 
lars) unfortunately  barred  me  from  the  privilege  of  acquiring  it. 


66     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

cause  a  mineralogist  or  geologist  to  pay  a  visit  to  those  Chinese  turquois 
mines,  and  to  give  us  information  on  their  extent,  the  working  methods 
employed,  and  the  magnitude  of  the  output  and  trade  in  the  material. 
In  Japan  the  turquois  does  not  occur,  and  it  has  been  unknown  to  the 
Japanese.  The  Japanese  mineralogists,  on  becoming  acquainted  with 
it  through  our  literature,  coined  the  artificial  word  turkodama. 


ADDITIONAL  NOTES 

pp.  1-4.  The  date  of  the  introduction  of  the  turquois  into  India  may  be  some- 
what more  exactly  defined  by  referring  to  the  negative  evidence  presented  by  the 
great  Sanskrit-Buddhist  dictionary,  the  Mahavyutpatti  (Th.  Zachariae,  Die  indi- 
schen  Worterbiicher,  p.  39)  the  Sanskrit  text  of  which,  accompanied  by  a  Tibetan 
translation,  is  printed  in  the  Tibetan  Tanjur  (Sutra,  Vol.  123).  In  Ch.  235  (ed.  of 
MiNAYEV  and  Mironov,  p.  77,  St.  Petersburg,  191 1)  giving  the  names  of  precious 
stones,  the  word  for  turquois,  peroja,  is  not  included,  quite  in  accordance  with  the 
fact  that  the  turquois  is  not  spoken  of  in  Buddhist  literature.  We  are  therefore 
justified  in  concluding  that  at  the  time  when  Buddhism  was  introduced  from  India 
into  Tibet,  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,  the  stone  was  not  yet  known  in 
India,  whereas  at  the  same  time  it  was  widely  known  and  appreciated  in  Tibet;  thus, 
Tibetan  knowledge  of  th6  turquois  is  not  due  to  an  impetus  received  from  India. 
The  Sanskrit-Tibetan  equation,  peroja  =  gyu,  which  we  might  expect  does  not  exist  in 
lexicographical  literature.  The  earliest  historical  testimony  for  turquois  in  India, 
as  shown  above  p.  3,  remains  that  of  al-Beruni  in  the  post-Buddhistic  or  Moham- 
medan period,  and  even  at  his  time  the  turquois  cannot  have  been  very  generally 
diffused  over  India,  as  at  that  time  it  had  not  yet  entered  the  horizon  of  the  Indian 
mineralogists. 

p.  I.  The  Persian  word  ferozah  or  firozah  (firilza)  for  the  turquois  means  "victori- 
ous," and  is  derived  from  the  word  feroz  or  firoz,  "victory,  victorious,  successful" 
(see,  for  example,  Johnson  and  Richardson's  Persian-English  Dictionary,  ed.  by 
Steingass,  p.  944).  Also  the  Arabic  mineralogist  al-Akfani  explains  the  Persian 
name  of  the  turquois  as  signifying  "victory";  hence,  he  says,  it  is  called  also  "stone 
of  victory"  (Wiedemann,  Zur  Mineralogie  im  Islam,  p.  225);  likewise,  al-Ta"alibi 
{ibid.,  p.  242)  has  an  allusion  to  this  effect.  A  similar  notion  seems  to  be  underlying 
the  first  of  five  turquois  varieties  established  by  the  Lama  Klong-rdol  (Chandra 
Das,  Tibetan-English  Dictionary,  p.  1152),  called  zil-gnon  gyu  spyang,  in  which  term 
the  first  element  has  the  significance  "overcoming,  vanquishing." 

p.  3,  note  I.  It  should  not  be  understood  that  Dioscorides  had  any  knowledge  of 
turquois;  he  does  not  mention  it  (in  the  same  manner  as  his  contemporary  Pliny) 
nor  does  he  have  any  name  that  could  be  interpreted  as  such.  In  Ch.  157  of  his 
Materia  Medica  he  speaks  of  the  sapphire  (sappheiros) ,  i.e.,  lapis  lazuli,  and  says  that 
those  bitten  by  a  scorpion  will  be  relieved  by  taking  this  stone  as  a  potion  (compare 
F.  de  Mely,  Les  lapidaires  grecs.  Traduction,  p.  24,  Paris,  1902).  It  is  only  in  the 
mediaeval  work  of  Ibn  al-Baitar,  the  Arabic  version  of  Dioscorides,  that  the  same 
notion  is  transferred  to  the  turquois. 

p.  14,  note  I.  The  statement  that  Li  Shi  belongs  to  the  T'ang  period  is  based  on 
the  fact  that  in  the  editions  of  the  Sii  po  wu  chi  he  is  assigned  to  the  T'ang.  This, 
however,  seems  to  be  a  mere  traditional  opinion,  while  in  fact  the  work  is  said  to  date 
from  the  Sung  period  (Pelliot,  Journal  asiaiique,  Juillet-AoUt,  1912,  p.  155). 

p.  21.  M.  Pelliot,  who  showed  me  the  favor  of  looking  over  the  galley-proofs 
of  this  paper,  kindly  calls  my  attention  to  another  interesting  text  mentioning  a  fossil 
tree.     This  is  the  Tu  yang  tsa  pien  (Ch.  C,  p.  i,  edition  of  Pai  hai)  written  by  Su  Ngo 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois.  67 

in  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth  century  ^Wylie,  Notes,  p.  194).  Under  the  year  841 
A.  D.  mention  is  made  of  a  tribute  sent  to  Emperor  Wu-tsung  (841-846)  of  the  T'ang 
dynasty  by  the  country  of  Fu-yu.  The  latter  were  a  tribe,  presumably  belonging 
to  the  Koreans,  residing  in  Liao-tung  and  in  the  valley  of  the  Sungari,  and  are  first 
mentioned  in  the  Annals  of  the  Later  Han  Dynasty  (Ch.  115,  p.  2).  Their  tribute 
consisted  of  two  objects,  three  pecks  of  obsidian  (huo  yii,  lit.  fire  jade,  that  is,  stone 
of  volcanic  origin;  compare  the  discussion  on  obsidian  at  the  end  of  these  notes)  and  a 
petrified  fir-tree  {sung  feng  shi,  lit.  fir-tree  wind  stone)  measuring  ten  (Chinese)  feet 
all  round  and  lustrous  like  jade.  Inside  of  the  stone  substance  the  outlines  of  a  tree 
were  visible.  As  an  old  fir-tree  bends  from  the  action  of  the  wind,  so  a  cold  blast 
came  from  the  branches  of  that  petrified  tree.  In  the  midst  of  the  summer,  the  em- 
peror ordered  the  tree  to  be  placed  in  the  rooms  of  the  palace;  gradually  there  arose 
the  sound  of  the  whizzing  of  the  autumn  breeze;  when  the  rooms  were  cooled  off,  he 
had  the  tree  brought  out  again. 

p.  23,  note  2.  According  to  a  communication  of  M.  Pelliot,  the  collected  works 
of  the  poet  Lu  Kuei-m6ng  have  been  published  under  the  title  Li  (No.  6957)  ts^ 
(No.  11,666)  ts'ung  shu  (4  chapters  and  an  appendix),  of  which  there  are  several 
modem  editions.  I  find  a  biographical  sketch  of  his  embodied  in  the  Pei  meng  so 
yen  (Wylie,  Notes,  p.  194),  Ch.  6,  p.  lob  (edition  of  Pai  hai). 

p.  25.  The  first  European  author  who  treated  of  se-st  was  A.  Pfizmaier  (Bei- 
trage  zur  Geschichte  der  Edelsteine  und  des  Goldes,  Sitzungsberichte  der  Wiener 
Akademie,  1868,  p.  210)  in  translating  the  two  texts  relative  to  the  stone  in  the 
Ming  huang  tsa  lu.  He  did  not  explain  it,  though  he  was  always  ready  to  translate 
Chinese  names,  even  those  being  transcriptions  of  foreign  words  which  are  not  ca- 
pable of  a  literal  interpretation. 

p.  25,  note.  M.  Pelliot  thinks  that  the  source  for  the  definition  of  Palladius  is 
K'ang-hi's  Dictionary  sub  voce  si  (No.  9600)  where  after  the  Ytin  hui  of  the  thirteenth 
century  se-se  is  defined  as  a  pi  chu,  while  the  foundation  for  Couvreur's  statement  is 
the  commentary  to  the  Shi  king  (K'ang-hi,  sub  voce  si.  No.  9599) ;  this,  however,  refers 
only  to  the  single  word  si,  not  to  the  later  compound  si-si  which,  as  pointed  out  on 
p.  47,  is  the  Chinese  transcription  of  a  foreign  word.  No  conclusions,  accordingly, 
can  be  built  on  the  definitions  of  Palladius  and  Couvreur  in  regard  to  the  nature  of 
si-si. 

p.  26,  note  3.  M.  Pelliot  remarks  that  the  text  of  the  Nan-chao  ye  shi  is  derived 
from  the  older  work  Man  shu  of  the  T'ang  period  where  the  passage  relative  to  si-si 
occurs  in  Ch.  10,  p.  48.  The  Man  shu  is  the  work  of  Fan  Ch'o  and  was  published 
about  860;  the  history  of  the  work  is  given  by  Pelliot  {Bulletin  de  I' Ecole  frangaise 
d' Extreme-Orient,  Vol.  IV,  1904,  p.  132). 

p.  33.  The  word  si-si  occurs  several  times  in  the  Tu  yang  tsa  pien.  In  Ch.  A, 
p.  3  (edition  of  Pai  hai),  its  author,  Su  Ngo,  speaks  of  a  peailiar  kind  of  silk  threads 
sent  as  tribute  in  765  A.  d.  by  the  country  Mi-lo  in  the  Eastern  Sea.  These  threads, 
of  great  strength,  wefe  knitted  into  a  kind  of  bag  or  sheath  which  on  both  sides  was 
perfectly  translucent  like  strung  si-si.  It  follows  from  this  important  passage  that 
the  si-si  were  bright  and  lustrous  stones,  and  therefore  cannot  denote  the  turquois 
which  is  dense  and  non-transparent.  Further  (Ch.  A,  p.  8),  there  is  described  a 
marvelous  screen  which  originally  belonged  to  Yang  Kuo-chung,  a  cousin  of  Yang 
Kuei-fei  (above,  p.  33),  who  died  in  756  (Giles,  Biographical  Dictionary,  p.  909). 
On  this  screen  the  figures  of  the  beauties  and  hetairas  of  the  times  of  antiquity  were 
engraved,  and  it  was  framed  with  tortoise-shell  and  rhinoceros-horn.  A  filnge  was 
suspended  from  the  lower  edge  and  formed  by  genuine  pearls  and  si-si, —  the  whole 
of  such  ingenious  workmanship  that  one  could  hardly  believe  it  was  produced  by  a 
human  hand.  A  screen  having  the  color  of  si-si,  thirty  feet  wide  and  a  hundred 
feet  long,  is  mentioned  (Ch.  c,  p.  9  b)  as  having  been  in  the  possession  of  Princess 
T'ung-ch'ang,  curtains  and  screens  made  from  gold,  silver,  and  si-si  {ibid.,  p.  12  b); 
Buddhist  pennants  or  streamers  composed  of  coral,  agate,  genuine  pearls  and  si-si 
{ibid.,  p.  14  b)  to  be  used  in  a  procession  when  some  sacred  bones  of  Buddha  were  sent 


68     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIII. 

from  the  temple  Fa-men  in  F6ng-siang  to  the  capital  Si-ngan  fu  to  be  shown  in  the 
palace  and  in  the  monasteries  of  the  city  (compare  Kiu  T'ang  shu,  Ch.  15  A  and  De 
Groot,  Album  Kern,  p.'  135).  These  five  passages  relate  to  the  age  of  the  T'ang 
dynasty  and  show  that  si-se,  as  then  employed  in  China,  were  precious  stones  of 
transparent  quality,  on  a  par  with  genuine  pearls  and  precious  metals;  they  further 
bear  out  the  fact  that  s^-s^  were  jewels  not  bigger  than  a  pearl,  otherwise  they  could 
not  have  been  strung  together  with  pearls.  All  this  renders  the  assumption  of  s^-se 
being  the  turquois  impossible  and  confirms  my  opinion  that  it  was  the  balas  ruby. 
We  insisted  above  on  the  popularity  of  the  word  s^-si  in  the  T'ang  period.  This  is 
fully  corroborated  by  the  interesting  work  Tu  yang  tsa  pien  where  it  enters  into  com- 
parisons from  which  it  becomes  clear  that  the  word  was  very  familiar  and  generally 
understood  at  that  time.  In  Ch.  c,  p.  5  are  described  three  marvelous  plants 
which,  when  eaten,  guard  man  from  old  age.  The  first  of  these  is  called  shuang  lin 
chi,  "the  agaric  with  the  double  lin  (female  unicorn),"  and  is  described  as  a  plant 
with  one  stalk  and  two  flowers  so  hidden  away  that  they  are  scarcely  visible,  and 
shaped  like  a  lin  with  head  and  tail,  all  complete;  and  they  produce  seeds  like  se-se. 

p.  36,  note  I.  Turquois-mines  in  the  district  of  Upper  NasiyS  in  Ferghana  are 
mentioned  by  Ibn  Haukal  (978  a.  d.,  ed.  of  De  Goeje,  Bibl.  Geogr.  Arab.,  p.  397),  as 
Mr.  Guy  le  Strange,  the  excellent  Persian  scholar  of  Cambridge,  England,  has  been 
good  enough  to  write  me.  M.  Pelliot  refers,  as  regards  turquois-mines  of  Khojend, 
to  Pa  VET  DE  Courteille,  Baber  nameh,  Vol.  I,  p.  7.  This  work  is  not  accessible  to 
me,  but  I  find  in  the  new  English  translation  of  A.  S.  Beveridge  (The  Memoirs  of 
Baber,  p.  8)  the  passage  as  follows:  "To  the  north  of  both  the  town  [Khojend]  and 
the  river  lies  a  mountain  range  called  Munughul;  people  say  there  are  turquois  and 
other  mines  in  it,  and  there  are  many  snakes."  There  is,  accordingly,  no  longer 
any  reason  to  doubt  the  indigenous  occurrence  of  turquois  in  the  territory  of  Fer- 
ghana, and  it  will  be  correct  to  assume  that  it  was  mined  there  from  the  latter  part 
of  the  tenth  century. 

p.  40.  Mr.  Guy  le  Strange  has  been  good  enough  to  refer  me  to  the  fact  that  the 
text  of  the  passage  of  Ibn  Haukal  (Hauqal  or  Hawqal,  as  others  spell  it),  the  con- 
tinuer  or  re-editor  of  Istakhri,  is  found  in  De  Goeje's  Bibl.  Geogr.  Arab.,  p.  313;  the 
turquois  mines,  according  to  him,  were  near  Nuqan,  which  is  Tus  to  the  north  of 
modern  Meshed.  On  p.  362  of  the  same  work,  celebrated  turquois  mines  are  men- 
tioned in  Transoxania  near  the  mountains  called  Jabal-Buttam. 

p.  43,  note  2.  In  regard  to  the  uk-nu  stone  mentioned  in  the  Assyrian  inscrip- 
tions Mr.  Pinches  has  shown  that  it  denotes  lapis  lazuli  from  the  Zagros  range  (Jour- 
nal Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1898,  p.  259,  note  i).     I  have  no  judgment  on  this  point. 

p.  44,  note  2,  and  p.  62.  It  is  assumed  by  several  authors  that  lapis  lazuli  is 
found  in  China.  A.  Williamson,  who  has  written  an  interesting  article  on  the 
productions  of  northern  China  (Journal  China  Branch  R.  As.  Soc,  Vol.  IV,  1868, 
p.  41),  asserts  on  hearsay  reports  that  in  Shan-si,  and  among  the  hills  in  the  south  of 
Shen-si,  precious  stones,  stich  as  lapis  lazuli,  ruby,  etc.,  abound,  and  that  he  has 
every  reason  to  believe  the  report  correct.  F.  Porter  Smith  (Contributions  towards 
the  Materia  Medica  and  Natural  History  of  China,  p.  129,  Shanghai,  1871)  who  takes 
the  word  liu-li  in  the  sense  of  lapis  lazuli  says  that  the  blue  mineral  known  by  this 
name  is  met  with  in  very  fine  specimens  in  China  and  Central  Asia.  In  the  "Cata- 
logue special  desobjets  exposes  dans  la  section  chinoise  a  I'expositionde  Hanoi,  1902" 
(p.  121)  mention  is  made  of  the  lapis  lazuli  of  the  Island  of  Hainan.  In  the  latter 
case  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  determination  is  wrong  and  merely  due  to  a 
confusion  with  cobalt  which,  as  well  known,  is  obtained  on  Hainan  (Hirth,  Chine- 
sische  Studien,  p.  251).  According  to  R.  Pumpelly  (Geological  Researches,  p.  117, 
Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge,  Vol.  XV,  Washington,  1867)  lapis  lazuli  is 
found  at  Mount  Nien  in  the  district  of  Ch'ang-shan,  prefecture  of  K'u-chou,  ChS- 
kiang  Province,  and  in  the  district  of  Lo-ts'ing,  prefecture  of  W6n-chou,  of  the  same 
province.  These  statements,  however,  as  the  entire  list  of  minerals  in  which  they  are 
contained,  are  based  on  the  Ta  Ts'ing  i  t'ung  chi  and  other  Chinese  sources  examined 
by  "the  author's  Chinese  secretary"  (p.  109).     But  I  am  at  a  loss  to  explain  where 


July,  1913.  -  Notes  on  Turquois.  69 

the  Chinese  secretary  found  these  statements.  There  is  nothing  to  this  effect  to  be 
met  in  the  Ta  Ts'ing  i  Vung  chi.  Among  the  products  of  K'ii-chou  fu  (Ch.  233,  p.  9) 
are  mentioned,  after  the  Ta  Ming  i  i'ung  chi,  ink-slabs  produced  in  the  two  districts 
of  Ch"ang-shan  and  K"ai-hua,  but  no  other  kind  of  mineral;  in  the  account  of  Wto- 
chou  fu  (Ch.  235,  p.  10)  no  stone  is  registered.  Perhaps  his  statement  is  derived 
from  his  "other  Chinese  sources";  but  even  then  we  should  like  to  know  the  Chinese 
word  translated  by  him  "lapis  lazuli,"  and  as  he  does  not  give  it,  his  note  is  rather 
valueless.  As  pointed  out  on  p.  44,  note  2,  we  meet  in  the  Ta  Ts'ing  i  t'ung  chi  the 
word  kin  sing  ski  {lit.  gold  star  stone)  in  Ch.  398,  p.  3  b,  description  of  Sze-chou  fu  in 
Kuei-chou  Province,  where  it  is  said  that  this  stone  occurs  east  of  the  city  of  Sze-chou 
in  the  Kia-ch'i  Lake,  and  that,  according  to  the  Provincial  Gazetteer,  stars  and 
spots  appear  on  its  surface,  that  it  is  hard  and  glossy  and  can  be  worked  up  into  ink- 
slabs.  Giles  (in  his  Dictionary,  p.  252c)  explains  kin  sing  shi  by  "iron  and  copper 
pyrites,"  in  agreement  with  F.  Porter  Smith  (Contributions  towards  the  Materia 
Medica  and  Natural  History  of  China,  p.  123,  Shanghai,  1871).  I  do  not  wish  to 
push  this  discussion  any  further,  as  the  second  word  cannot  be  spoken  before  the 
first  has  been  said.  Specimens  suspected  of  being  lapis  lazuli  must  be  procured  from 
the  various  localities  where  they  are  reported  to  occur,  and  examined  by  competent 
mineralogists.  Others  like  T.  Wad.\  (Beitrdge  zur  Mineralogie  von  Japan,  No.  i ,  p.  21) 
den}'  that  lapis  lazuli  is  found  in  China,  and  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  is  imported  from 
Central  Asia. 

p.  45.  Incidentally  I  wish  to  refer  here  to  a  now  antiquated  investigation  of  T. 
DE  Lacouperie,  On  Yakut  Precious  Stones  from  Oman  to  North  China,  400  b.  c. 
{Babylonian  and  Oriental  Record,  Vol.  VI,  1893,  pp.  271-4),  in  which  the  Chinese 
ye  kuang  chu,  "the  bead  or  pearl  shining  at  night, "  is  set  in  relation  with  the  Arabic 
word  for  the  ruby  yakut  (an  etymology  impossible  for  philological  and  historical 
reasons;  in  fact,  the  Chinese  term  is  not  a  transcription  of  any  foreign  word  but  a 
thoroughly  Chinese  formation)  and  identified  with  the  ruby,  "probably  from 
Badakshan,  the  chief  source  of  these  stones  at  that  time." 

p.  46,  note  I.  The  date  of  Yang  Shen,  as  given  by  Mayers,  is  correct;  it  is  given 
as  the  same  by  CHAVA>fNES  {T'oung  Pao,  1904,  p.  474)  who  notes  his  biography  after 
Ming  shi  (Ch.  192).     Yang  Shfin  wrote  the  Nan-chao  ye  shi  in  1550. 

p.  49.  For  the  elucidation  of  this  text  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  M.  Pelliot  who 
will  himself  take  it  up  in  his  proposed  study  of  the  history  of  the  Nestorians  in  China. 
M.  Pelliot  says  that  he  has  not  found  the  text  in  the  Hua  yang  kuo  chi,  but  on  the 
other  hand  has  not  succeeded  in  discovering  a  trace  of  an  independent  work  Hua  yang 
ki.  The  quotation  given  from  Chao  Pien  is  not  contained  in  the  latter  work,  but  is 
taken  from  another  source.  According  to  the  Sung  shi,  Chao  Pien  lived  in  fact  from 
1006-1084,  as  will  be  demonstrated  by  M.  Pelliot  in  the  publication  mentioned,  but 
it  is  not  certain  whether  he  is  the  author  of  the  Shu  tu  ku  shi.  What  is  rendered 
above  by  monolith  is  in  the  text  shi  sun  (Nos.  9964,  10438)  by  which  M.  Pelliot  is 
inclined  to  understand  megalithic  monuments.  These  stone  ruins  are  the  remainders 
of  an  ancient  tomb  (compare  Ch'eng-tu  hien  chi,  1873,  Ch.  2,  p.  3  b,  and  Sze-ch'uan 
t'ung  chi,  Ch.  48,  p.  66  b),  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Temple  of  Ta  Ts'in.  In 
the  last  number  of  the  Journal  asiatigue  {Mars-Avril,  1913,  p.  308),  Chav.\nnes  and 
Pelliot  alluding  to  the  text  of  Neng  kai  chat  man  lu  incline  toward  the  opinion  that 
the  temples  of  Ta  Ts'in  are  due  to  the  Nestorians. 

p.  52.  Also  Qazwlnl  (1203-83)  mentions  the  onyx  of  China  (Sm)  with  the 
curious  addition  that  the  people  of  Sm  repudiate  the  quarrying  of  the  onyx  mines, 
which  is  left  only  to  slaves  who  cannot  otherwise  eke  out  a  living  and  sell  the  stone 
in  countries  outside  of  Sm  (J.  Ruska,  Das  Steinbuch  aus  der  Kosmographie  des  al- 
Qazwmi,  p.  12). 

p.  53,  note  3.  The  statement  that  the  Shi  si  yii  ki  seems  to  be  lost  is  based  on 
Bretschneider's  authority;  besides  the  quotation  as  given  there,  his  Mediaeval 
Researches  (Vol.  II,  p.  268)  ought  to  have  been  pointed  out,  where  the  same. is  re- 
peated.    But  this  is  contradictory  to  what  Bretschneider  says  on  p.  147  of  the  same 


70     Field  Museum  of  Natural  History  —  Anth.,  Vol.  XIIL 

volume  that  the  book  in  question  seems  to  be  still  extant  and  is  noticed  in  the  Im- 
perial Catalogue  (Ch.  64,  p.  5).  Also  M.  Pelliot  thinks  that  the  work  is  extant,  but 
there  are  no  modern  editions  of  it. 

p.  55,  note  5.  As  the  emerald  is  not  made  mention  of  in  the  Bower  Manuscript 
of  about  450  A.  D.,  it  would  be  justifiable  to  conclude  that,  taking  the  positive  testi- 
monies into  consideration,  the  emerald  was  introduced  into  India  not  earlier  than  the 
beginning  of  the  sixth  century  A.  D.  The  passage  of  Cosmas  regarding  the  emerald 
will  be  found  on  p.  371  of  Mac  Crindle's  translation  (Christian  Topography,  ed.  of 
Hakluyt  Society,  London,  1897). 

p.  56,  note  3.  T.  Watters  (Essays  on  the  Chinese  Language,  p.  352)  believed 
he  recognized  the  Persian  wovdfiruza  in  Chinese  pi-liu  (Nos.  9009  and  7245)  or  pi- 
liu  ski  (stone)  to  which  he  ascribes  the  meaning  of  turquois  (observation  of  M. 
Pelliot).     But  the  source  from  which  the  Chinese  word  is  derived  is  not  given. 


The  discourse  on  se-se  has  furnished  sufficient  proof  for  the  fact  that  the  Chinese 
designation  of  a  stone  may  refer  to  different  species  according  to  different  localities, 
and  that  the  significance  of  such  a  word  may  undergo  changes  in  course  of  time. 
Moreover,  we  observe  that  the  name  of  a  stone  used  with  reference  to  a  foreign 
country  does  not  necessarily  denote  the  same  species  as  the  same  name  when  applied 
to  the  domestic  variety.  An  interesting  case  of  a  similar  bearing  is  presented  by  the 
account  on  Japan  in  the  Annals  of  the  Later  Han  Dynasty  {Hou  Han  shu,  Ch.  115, 
p.  5  b)  where  white  pearls  (pai  chu)  and  (what  from  a  Chinese  point  of  view  would 
be  a  literal  translation  of  the  term)  "green  jade"  {TsHng  yil)  are  mentioned  as  prod- 
ucts of  Japan;  indeed,  the  term  has  thus  been  translated,  for  instance,  by  E.  H. 
Parker  {China  Review,  Vol.  XVIII,  p.  219  a).  But  it  is  evident  that  this  translation 
cannot  be  correct,  for  we  know  surely  enough  that  Japan  does  not  produce  jade  (see 
Jade,  pp.  351-4).  It  is  therefore  manifest  that  the  word  ts'ing  yii  in  the  above  text 
relates  not  to  any  kind  of  jade  but  to  a  Japanese  stone,  and  that  the  term  must  be 
taken  from  a  Japanese,  not  a  Chinese  viewpoint,  and  it  may  be  inferred  also  that  it 
must  designate  a  mineral  peculiar  to  Japan  and  absent  in  China.  The  Chinese 
character  yti  is  read  in  Japanese  tama,  and  this  Japanese  word  signifies  any  gem  or 
precious  stone  in  general,  or  even  more  commonly  a  bead  or  ball  of  any  stone.  The 
color  name  ts'ing  (Japanese  aoi,  Sinico- Japanese  sei)  is  of  uncertain  quality  and  refers 
to  the  general  color  prevalent  in  nature,  green,  blue,  black,  gray,  usually  meaning  any 
dark  neutral  tint.  Such  a  substance  playing  a  large  r61e  in  the  antiquity  of  the 
Japanese  and  the  Ainu  is  obsidian.  It  is  unknown  in  China,  but  found  in  several 
localities  of  Japan  (Bungo,  Izu,  Kai,  Shinano,  Tokachi:  N.  G.  Munro,  Prehistoric 
Japan,  p.  292,  Yokohama,  1908).  It  was  largely  utilized,  as  in  ancient  Mexico,  for 
the  manufacture  of  arrowheads,  and  abundant  flakes  scattered  around  in  the  sites 
mentioned  testify  to  its  popylarity.  As  elsewhere,  it  was  worked  up  also  into  beads 
and  balls  to  enter  into  personal  adornment. 

P.  F.  v.  SiEBOLD  (Geogr.  and  Ethnogr.  Elucidations  to  the  Discoveries  of  M.  G. 
Vries,  p.  175,  Amsterdam,  1859)  reports  on  obsidian  balls  received  from  Yezo,  "from 
two  feet  to  two  feet  and  a  half  in  diameter,  coal-black  of  color,  and  some  small  blue 
pieces  of  stone,  of  which  probably  the  so-called  Krafto  (properly  Karajuto)  tama,  or 
precious  stone  of  Krafto  is  formed."  It  could  appear  from  this  statement  that 
obsidian  and  the  blue  Karafuto  tama  are  considered  by  Siebold  as  different  stones; 
but,  in  another  passage  of  the  same  book  (p.  105),  he  comments  on  a  blue  bead  chain 
noticed  by  Vries  in  the  ears  of  an  Ainu  woman  of  Saghalin  that  ' '  the  most  precious 
are  the  blue  obsidian  which  they  call  Krafto  tama,  precious  stone  from  Krafto;  these 
blue  corals  [?]  are  found  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  frigid  zone,  of  the  northern 
hemisphere,  from  the  Great  Ocean  up  to  Behring's  Straits,  where  they  were  found  by 
von  Kotzebue  in  the  Sound  which  bears  his  name."  A.  J.  C.  Geerts  (Les  produits 
de  la  nature  japonaise  et  chinoise,  p.  294,  Yokohama,  1878)  describes  precious  stones 
under  the  name  ruri-tama  (written  with  the  Chinese  characters  liu-li  yii)  as  of  deep- 
blue  color  and  entering  into  the  necklaces  of  the  ancient  Japanese  (the  shitogi  of  the 
Ainu).  He  identifies  them  with  lapis  lazuli,  and  says  that  these  very  rare  stones 
have  been  found  on  the  Kurile  Islands,  several  specimens  of  which  are  in  the  Museum 


July,  1913.  Notes  on  Turquois,  71 

of  Tokyo.  Under  the  name  Karafuto-tama,  that  is,  jewels  of  the  Island  of  Saghalin, 
the  precious  stone  par  excellence  of  Saghalin  and  the  Kuriles  is  understood,  made  into 
the  necklaces  called  shitogi.  They  are  well  polished  lustrous  balls  of  blue  or  bluish 
color,  but  less  dark  than  the  ruri-tama.  They  are  the  product,  adds  Geerts,  of 
dark  blue  obsidian  varying  much  in  size;  they  belong,  as  the  preceding  stone,  to  a 
period  posterior  to  the  maga-tama  and  still  serve  as  ornaments  to  the  natives  of  the 
Kuriles.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  the  ruri-tama  and  Karafuto-tama  are  identical, 
and  that  the  material  in  question  is  obsidian.  Obsidian,  as  well  known,  is  not  a 
mineral  proper  but  a  natural  glass,  a  black  vitreous  volcanic  rock  being  produced 
where  a  rapid  cooling  of  certain  liquid  lavas  has  taken  place  and  occurring  in  many 
parts  of  the  world,  the  coloration  being  black,  gray,  brown,  yellow,  red,  green,  some- 
times also  blue.  A  peculiar  variety  is  known  to  our  mineralogists  from  the  river 
Marekanka  near  Okhotsk  in  eastern  Siberia,  hence  called  marekanite;  these  obsidian 
balls  are  partly  colored  evenly,  partly  of  brown  and  gray,  frequently  also  of  yellow 
and  red  hues  (Max  Bauer,  Edelsteinkunde,  p.  551).  O.  C.  Farrington  (Gems  and 
Gem  Minerals,  p.  181)  gives  for  it  also  the  name  "mountain  mahogany,"  and  says 
that  it  makes  a  pretty  stone,  which  is  used  for  the  manufacture  of  some  objects. 
This  material  is  doubtless  the  source  for  the  precious  beads  of  Saghalin,  and  the 
Kuriles.  Nothing  is  known  to  Japanese  or  foreign  mineralogists  of  lapis  lazuli  found 
on  the  Kuriles,  and  the  definition  of  Geerts  must  be  considered  an  error.  In  the 
Ainu  collection  of  the  Field  Museum  there  is  a  necklace  (Cat.  No.  88037)  coming 
from  Hakodate  on  Yezo,  in  which  are  strung  six  large,  black  obsidian  balls  (about  3 
cm  in  diameter),  together  with  many  blue,  green  and  white  glass  beads.  J.  Batche- 
LOR  (The  Ainu  and  Their  Folk-lore,  p.  154,  London,  1901)  states  that  the  glass  beads 
of  which  the  Ainu  women  are  extremely  fond  are  of  Japanese  make,  others  appear  to 
have  come  from  China;  the  people  believe  that  the  ancients  got  them  from  the 
Rushikai,  that  is,  Russians  and  Manchu.  In  the  Annals  of  the  Later  Han  Dynasty 
{Hou  Han  shu,  Ch.  115,  pp.  5a,  5b)  the  countries  of  the'Fu-yu  (see  above)  and  the 
Yi-lou  who  lived  over  1000  li  north-east  of  the  Fu-yu  are  reported  to  produce  "red 
jade  "  {ch'i  yu).  Also  in  this  case,  the  word  yii  cannot  be  construed  to  have  the  literal 
meaning  of  "jade,"  as  no  jade  is  found  in  those  localities  which  were  inhabited  by  the 
Fu-yii  and  Yi-lou,  and  I  am  inclined  to  regard  the  term  ch'i  yii  as  having  likewise  the 
significance  of  obsidian.  The  evidence  for  this  supposition  is  furnished  by  the  Tu 
yangtsa  pien  (Ch.  C,  P-  i)  in  the  passage  above  alluded  to.  In  the  tribute  sent  by  the 
Fu-yii  in  841  A.  D.  to  Emperor  Wu-tsung  there  were  three  pecks  of  "volcanic  jade" 
{huo  yii  san  tou),  which  was  red  {ch'i)  in  color.  The  pieces  were  half  an  inch  long, 
pointed  on  top,  and  round  below;  they  emitted  their  brilliancy  at  a  distance  of  ten 
paces.  Gathered  in  a  cauldron  they  could  be  ignited,  and  the  heat  of  such  a  cauldron 
placed  in  the  house  was  sufficient  to  dispense  with  double  quilted  garments  [which  the 
Chinese  use  to  wear  in  the  winter,  heating  their  bodies  instead  of  their  rooms].  The 
court-ladies  of  inferior  rank  availed  themselves  of  this  fire  to  heat  a  brand  of  wine 
called  "clear  wine "  which  had  been  sent  as  the  gift  of  a  foreign  country.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  of  the  identification  of  the  term  huo  yii  with  obsidian;  this  expression 
literally  means  "fire  jade,"  and  "fire  mountain"  {huo  shan)  is  the  Chinese  word  for  a 
volcano;  huo  yii,  accordingly,  is  a  fino  stone  of  volcanic  origin,  and  such  a  product  of 
volcanic  outflows  is  obsidian.  The  account  of  this  substance  being  utilized  as  a 
combustible  is  quite  credible,  for  obsidian  "fuses  rather  easily  before  the  blowpipe 
to  a  porous,  gray  mass"  (O.  C.  Farrington,  I.e.,  p.  180).  This  "fire  jade"  was  red 
in  color;  accordingly,  it  was  a  ch'i  yii,  and  this  is  the  very  designation  which  we  en- 
counter in  the  Annals  of  the  Later  Han  Dynasty.  For  this  reason  we  may  conclude 
that  the  term  chH  yii,  as  pointed  out  in  the  above  passage,  serves  for  the  designation 
of  obsidian  which  itself  was  unknown  in  China. 


OF  THE 
"DIVERSITY  OF  lUlNOtJ 


PLATE  II 

Woman  from  southern  Tibet,  to  illustrate  the  mode  of  wearing  jewelry:  gold 
earrings  inlaid  with  a  mosaic  of  turquois;  gold  amulet  box  (gau),  the  surface  being 
filled  with  a  network  of  designs  formed  of  gold  filigree  and  inlaid  with  seven  choice 
turquoises  of  first  quality;  necklace  composed  of  large  turquois,  amber  and  coral 
beads;  and  silver  chatelaine  with  ornamental  halberd,  toothpick,  ear  spoon,  tweezers 
and  small  brush  (lost)  for  oiling  the  hair  (see  Jade,  p.  203). 

All  ornaments  worn  by  this  woman  were  acquired  for  the  Field  Museum  (ex- 
hibited in  the  Gem  Room,  with  a  large  collection  of  other  Tibetan  and  Nepalese 
jewelry). 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,   VOL.   XIII,    PL.   II. 


Tibetan  woman  showing  Manner  of  Wearing  Jewelry. 


PLATE  III 

Tibetan  woman  in  festival  dress  of  Chinese  silk.  The  chaplet  is  worn  over  an 
artificial  wig  of  long  flowing  hair  imported  from  China.  The  turquoises  are  sewed  on 
to  a  foundation  of  stiff  red  cloth,  and  bandeaux  formed  by  rows  of  artificial  pearls  are 
laid  around  the  sides. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  XIII,   PL.   III. 


Tibetan  woman  in  Festival  Dress 


PLATE'JV 

Tibetan  woman  wearing  chaplet  set  with  turquoises  and  artificial  pearls;  turquois 
earrings;  copper  charm-box  inlaid  with  turquoises  suspended  from  a  necklace;  a 
quadrangular  silver  charm-box  attached  to  the  rosary;  a  silver  chatelaine  with  five 
utensils;  a  silver  belt  with  chain  (called  digra)  falling  down  over  the  apron,  caught 
up  and  fastened  to  the  belt,  and  then  again  to  the  bodice,  where  it  terminates  in  the 
figure  of  a  rooster  of  silver.  It  is  covered  with  plaques  of  gold  filigree  set  with 
turquoises.  She  wears  silver  rings  set  with  turquoises  on  the  middle  and  fourth 
fingers  of  both  hands,  a  white  conch-shell  as  bracelet  on  her  right  arm,  and  a  Chinese 
silver  bracelet  on  her  left  arm. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,   VOL.   XIII,    PL.    IV. 


Tibetan  woman  with  Complete  jewelry. 


'2   ^  -"^  •=* 
•t2   "^    -(->     . 


"E^^^S 


O  ti 


a.    .S 


(U   ."t^ 


■t5  +3   |-. 


03     b 


(^ 


H  s 


3    tj 


PLATE  VI 

Chinese  Turquois  Carvings. 

Fig.  I.  Flat,  polished  and  perforated  turquois  of  dark-blue  color  with  black 
strata,  mined  in  Hu-pei  Province  and  worked  in  Si-ngan  fu.     Cat.  No.  1 16679/3. 

Figs.  2-4.  Fanciful  carvings  of  turquois,  Si-ngan  fu,  made  for  Tibetan  and 
Mongol  Lamas  who  use  them  as  decorations  on  their  tables,  and  also  as  paper- 
weights, 10,  8.5,  and  12  cm  high,  respectively.      Cat.  Nos.  1 16663,  1 16664,  1 16666. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,    VOL.  XIII,    PL.  VI. 


Chinese  turouois  Carvings. 


^^I^S* 


PLATE  VII 

Chinese  Turquois  Carvings. 

Fig.  I.  Bird  carved  from  turquois,  serving  for  decorative  purposes,  and  also  as 
paper-weight,  Si-ngan   fu.     12.4  cm  long,  3.8  cm  high.     Cat.  No.  1 16665. 

Fig.  2.  Snuff-bottle  carved  from  turquois,  Peking.  3.3  cm  high.  Cat.  No. 
1 16670. 

Fig.  3.  Turquois  carving  of  recumbent  tiger,  used  as  girdle-pendant,  Si-ngan 
fu.     5.3  X  3  cm;  2.2  cm  high.     Cat.  No.  1 16668. 

Fig.  4.  Turquois  carving  of  fish,  both  sides  alike,  used  as  girdle-pendant,  Si- 
ngan  fu.     5.4  x3.3  cm.     Cat.  No.  1 16667. 

Fig.  5.  Turquois  carving  of  ornamental  button  in  shape  of  blossom  with  a 
double  row  of  petals,  worn  in  front  of  cap  or  fillet,  Si-ngan  fu.  3.5  x  3  cm.  Cat. 
No.  1 16669. 

Fig.  6.  Image  of  the  Dhyanibuddha  Amitabha,  Lamaist  type,  carved  from 
turquois,  Peking.     6.7  cm  high.     Cat.  No.  1 16673. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  XIII,    PL.  VII. 


Chinese  Turquois  Carvings. 


2-5 


PLATE  VIII 

Chinese  Turquois  Carvings. 
The  Twelve  Animals  representing  the  periodical  cycle  of  twelve  years.     Carved 
from  turquois,  Peking.     Average  dimensions  of  figures  5x3  cm,  with  a  height  of 
2  cm.     Cat.  No.  11 6674. 
The  animals  are: 

I.  Rat.  2.  Ox.  3.  Tiger. 

4.  Hare.  5.  Dragon.  6.  Serpent. 

7.  Horse.  8.  Ram.  9.  Monkey. 

10.  Rooster.  11.  Dog.  12.  Boar. 

See  p.  63. 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  VOL.  XIII,    PL.   VIII. 


Chinese  Turquois  Carvings. 


